His name is Pendy Pangestu aka Peter Phang..
Here are the reasons why..
Met up with Pendy for supper earlier on at Lau Pa Sat.. Finally, it's the day before he ends a chapter of his life of working in Singapore before he heads off for a short holiday in the Philippines then Indonesia and finally, back hope to Perth in Australia..
I have personally known Pendy since April 2009.. Worked with him for more than a year together in Tony Roma's in Australia and finally, saying our goodbyes as I left for my national service and him going to Canada to chase his dream, before finally coming to Singapore to work in DB Bistro Moderne in MBS.. I have seen how much he has changed and grow over the years..
He was my mentor in Tony Romas, my Shifu, he taught me how to grill ribs and taught me how to be a good chef.. Until today, he never fails to inspire me and got me thinking and growing more as the days go by.. I really wanted to be the best chef I can be and I just get more motivated each time i meet up with him for some catching up..
Today, I managed to have a coffee with him first just before the supper with the rest of DB Bistro Kitchen staff.. I asked him a question about what did he took back from his experience in Singapore.. He told me that he first wanted to come and try out in Singapore because he wanted to try working at a faster pace. However, what he saw was people who had been programmed to "robots" and doing things for the sake of doing and for the wrong reason.. There are very little people with dreams left in Singapore.. Due to the competitiveness here, everyone just starts to do things because it's the trend to do it.. The example he gave was people wearing branded stuff here.. He mentioned that people wear branded and dress better because everyone just feel that they'll be seen as someone of a "higher class" just because they're dressed better or seen with eyes that they can afford luxurious items..
We talked about the F&B industry of Singapore. He stated that 80 to 90% of the income of Singapore comes from F&B industry which is part of tourism. He mentioned that he noticed that most of the staff who're in this industry are foreigners, mainly the pinoys and the cheena. He told me that Singaporeans tend to have this mentality where they want to do BIG things, earn lots of money, just because most people are doing it. We hardly find people nowadays especially in Singapore who chase their dreams or even have dreams to do what they want to do to start off with. This is really sad to see. Pendy stated that because of this, the Church will have to come into the picture, to show love to people, and to let people through the love of God, be guided to fulfil their calling in their lives.
He brought up another point, he mentioned about happiness and having joy.. He say that you can have everything and be happy, but as long as there's no joy, you can never feel good inside.. I do strongly agree with him with whatever he has said. Yes it's true that it's indeed 2 different feelings.. Being happy is just temporary, but however, being joyful or having joy in life is having everything positive and going on well in life.. Though you might not be having luxury or not a lot of money, but because you are doing what you love and all, not forgetting having your family around you, only having all these gives you real joy in life.
I was really inspired about his humility.. I honestly told him about how inspired I am by him and he's the only chef I will wanna follow, not forgetting how much of a role model he is in my life.. He claims that it is his calling in his life for him to cook. He said that God created everyone uniquely and fairly, we all have things we're good in and not so good in. If God did not judge us, then what more us human beings? People nowadays especially in Singapore have this mindset that just because they are not good in something, they are not smart and etc and thus, being looked down at, just because they are not as good as the rest in that certain area of skill in their life.. I can really feel his love for people when he spoke. He's someone who loves people so much that even though they might give him problem, put him down or do evil things to him, he still loves them..
He started sharing with me about his journey in Canada. He told me that the biggest thing that was revealed to him when he was there was the grace of God in his life and also how great God reveals himself to people. He told me about how God opened one door after another to him when he was in Canada.. He told me that everything great happened because of the extreme grace of God that was upon his life when he was there.. Honestly, when he shared with me, I felt the super strong presence of God and started seeing flashbacks in my mind about my past in Australia.. I began to realised it was the same grace that Pendy had was upon my life during my days in Australia, where everything seemed impossible became possible. We both concluded as we shared with each other was our very existence of us being alive today is a proof that God exist.. I felt really fed spiritually. I felt like as tho I was reminded of the call of my life from the very beginning.. I began to feel the fire inside of me burning again.. I just can't wait to start cooking again!!!
Pendy mentioned about always be ready for the future, especially in the area of our career and making big bucks in the future. He told me about seeing the money coming to our hands. He mentioned about thinking about how to properly make a wise decision about how to use the money, so that every cent does not go to a waste. It's basically planning for the future for a "just-in-case" scenario in our life..
To conclude, I really respect Pendy A LOT!!! He's someone who I'll really look up to as a leader, a mentor, a friend, and not forgetting, a brother of mine.. I really can't wait to see him again and ketchup with him.. The next time I see him, will be his wedding in Jakarta in December, where I will personally head down and witness with my very eyes, the wild guy who had a dream, settle down and continue living his even BIGGER dreams.. Even though he will never see this blog post, but his lessons will forever be instilled inside my heart for as long as I live..
Take care buddy.. See you soon.. Love you bro =))
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