Rocking the Hot Kitchen

“Chefs are actually rock stars in their own way. When they own a restaurant and it is successful, all the attention is on them.” -Rudolf Ranada, Professional Chef

Chef is not a title that is easily acquired. The hyped word requires vast achievements in the culinary industry and endorsement from the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines. And while there are many posers in this lucrative industry, one man stood out and showed that he deserves what it takes to be called a professional chef.

Rudolf Ranada has been an executive chef since 1990. He is a part owner of Lemuria, a French Mediterranean fine dining restaurant in Quezon City and a part-time instructor in MOST Institute Culinary School. He also does consultations for anything that involves food and beverage.

An engineering graduate, Chef Rudolf has made a noteworthy travel along the road to becoming a successful chef. Read on as he shared stories on how he strived to take culinary lessons while studying to become an engineer and what he did to earn a prestigious scholarship in Culinary Institute of America in New York.

What inspired you to take culinary lessons and be a professional chef?
When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I already knew what I wanted, which is to be a cook. During the 80’s, I saw a teeny-bopper film and I couldn’t forget a scene that depicts a chef passing by. And I said, “Whoa, that’s interesting!” I figured I could make a career out of that.

Also, I grew up in a family who considers food as the number one thing in life. My father is Ilocano and my mother is Ilongga, so I’m getting the best of the two worlds. We believe that if you want a good meal, you must know how to cook. Presently, there are four professional chefs in our family (including his wife, Golda May). So, food is a very important aspect that keeps our family together.

How did you start in the culinary industry?
My mom wanted me to take an engineering course just like my dad. She said HRA (Hotel and Restaurant Administration) and HRM (Hotel and Restaurant Management) are for women only, and since she was going to pay for my tuition, pinagbigyan ko siya. I took up Electronics and Communications Engineering in Don Bosco College. But she didn’t know that I was taking food and beverage seminars and short courses during sem-breaks and summers. Days after my graduation, a cousin of mine got married and the reception was in Le Souffle. There, I met Chef Billy King who introduced me to the pastry department. And I fell in love with it.

What does it take to become a professional chef?
From 1990 to 2000, my focus was on pastries alone. But from 1998 gearing up to 2000, I was already playing around in the hot kitchen. I incorporated what I knew in pastry with the main kitchen, and it became easier. Now, I am what they call a well-rounded chef. Whether you ask me to make bread or a main course, I can execute. You must know everything, not only baking or cooking, but (also) management and accounting. Because no matter how good you are as chef, you’ll still screw if you suck at managing your people.

A chef is a title given to you by your peers. You don’t give it to yourself. The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines will review you and your accomplishments, and that would be the only time that you will be recognized as a professional chef.

Why pastry? What is so interesting about it? My mom is an HE (Home Economics) graduate from UP, and during holiday seasons, she would bake fruitcakes, brownies and other goodies to be sold as giveaways. That’s how my interest in pastries developed. Pastry is the most difficult area because everything has to be measured. There is a lot of science in pastry—chemistry…you use baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, and you mix ingredients; biology…you use yeast in making bread and yeast is a form of bacteria; physics…you should know where the pressure is when you put a wedding cake on top of the table. It’s actually an exact science, and it teaches you discipline.

What are the disciplines of a professional chef?
My wife and I are already professionals in our field. We’ve been in the industry for more than 10 years. But no matter how perfect the dishes we prepare at family gatherings, the older people always have something to say—“Maybe you should put a little bit of this.” or “It’s a little salty for me.” In any business, I believe that you should have an open mind. You should be open to all criticisms because it makes a better person out of you.

What makes you different from other chefs?
I consider myself a hardcore cook not a chef. A chef is just a glorified name for a cook. Bottom line is kusinero lang naman ako. I still work inside the kitchen. If my staff will scrub the floor to make my kitchen clean, I will do it before them. If my staff eats pritong galunggong for staff meeting, I will eat it with them. I do not want any barriers. I practice what I teach. I practice principles in being a professional and as a human being. And these are the same principles that I have been living by for the 37 years of my life.

Most people might wonder what kind of dishes a chef like you eats at home.

I’m a breakfast person. I eat and eat breakfast and sometimes skip lunch. I love danggit, and corned beef and sardines with premium onions, eggs and lechong kawali. They still think we eat gourmet food like lamb or sea bass. But I even eat with my hands at home since I am allowed to do so. Those kind of food that you eat in a restaurant, diba nakakasawa na. You still go back to the kind of food that you are used to.

What is your favorite food/cuisine?
Any food that somebody else cooked. I love the lechon from Cebu. It’s so good, it doesn’t need sauce. And believe or not, I love street foods like isaw, kwek-kwek, abnoy, balut, one-day old and soup no. five. French food is good if I look at it in the aspect of being a chef. But me as a normal human being, I’d go for Japanese and Thai.

If you are not a chef, what do you think you’d be instead?
I’d be like a Japanese carpenter up in the mountains or a fisherman, but not an engineer because I hate numbers.

What advise would you like to give to aspiring chefs?
Education is very important, and as Jack Sparrow would say, “It’s your leverage.” Iba na ‘yung may pinanghahawakan ka. Practice makes perfect. If you don’t practice, what’s the point? It’s either you became a burger flipper or a culinary artist or craftsman. I don’t want to use the word “artist”. Because when you say artist, you use your emotions, while chefs have to do the things they do every single day as perfect as possible like craftsmen. Lastly, speak your mind and stand for everything you say.

At the age of 37, I am happy to say that I have my own piece of the world. MYKA SANTIAGO


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