Meet Kazuya Takami Warung KZU who shares his love of food and music and how Bali changed his life.
Kazuya-san, where are you in Japan?
I was born and raised in a small village south of Nagasaki, although I have lived and worked in Italy and Australia before coming to Bali.
What led you to Bali?
To make a long story short, I worked in a restaurant in Japan and my boss was surfing in Bali sometimes. He loved it here, and dreamed of having a restaurant.
So I came here first on its behalf to verify the business outlook for us. I never left! Our partnership dissolved over time because it is very difficult to explain the condition of Bali without being here, but I stayed in Bali. For six months, I was looking for a job and live my life just like new and different.
Like my money was running out, I finally found a position in a Japanese restaurant, Kaizan on Jalan Oberoi, and he worked for more than two years. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about the restaurant business here in Bali.
How did you a leader?
I'm still in various foods and always enjoyed preparing it. When I was growing up, I am still involved if someone was food. When I was old enough, I started working in restaurants and eventually became a leader.
I've never been a serious Japanese chef. I have done some travel and was influenced by many cuisines of different cultures. But I'm more influenced by what I can get on the market; this fresh product is available.
How Bali changed your life?
Completely. Bali has created a whole new life for me. I found my Italian wife and soon we had a daughter, which is already five years old now. And of course, now we have two restaurants. And a team of staff who help me feed the hundreds of expatriates and travelers who come for our food.
I find less stressful life here as it is in Japan. Japan is also very established and it is difficult to get a foot in the door. Indonesia is more open to a different scale from what I knew before. Here, you can go directly to the source for supplies and products; not too much bureaucracy.
Of course there is stress everywhere, but much less in Bali. Here, culture still respects the importance of ritual. There are also many interesting people from all over the world being creative and enjoying an active life.
We are now seeing extremely rapid growth in Bali, but the lifestyle is still more laid back and there is no pressure to work constantly. That said, I'm still busy working, but I love what I do is not really as "work" for me.
How is KZU born?
When my wife became pregnant, it became clear that I needed more income to support all of us, so I had the idea to do a little warung My first place was a small bamboo building near Golden Village in Seminyak. I rent for $ 15 million for the year, made a small renovation, found someone to help me cook and clean, and we started to open for lunch with fifteen dishes daily. Now we are about 50.
Step by step, people started coming for food and as a meeting place. It was mainly the local expats and travelers. Within six months, increased customer until we were 120 lunches a day in a square kitchen two meters! It was crazy, but everyone loved the place! It soon became obvious that we needed a larger location. It was time to step it up.
About this time I met Marcus Mcentee, an Australian expatriate who regularly ate my warung. He had a lot of experience in the construction and business in Indonesia and sought to establish a fast food healthy brand and offered me a partnership. The discussions continued for a year while we tried to find a good location. Finally, we found an ideal location on Jalan Drupadi.
I like the design of KZU on Jalan Drupadi. It is very simple, open and cool. Who is responsible?
My partner and friend, Marcus. He likes to create and customize everything. He even built our refrigerators and kitchens and so on. We enjoy trying new things and keep things quite industrial city with rusted panels, concrete walls and logos stencils on the walls, while design for maximum airflow and light ; keeping cool and comfortable place. We all have different skills and areas of expertise, so we do not compete on all levels; rather we complement.
What is the secret of your popularity?
Good "clean" food at a great price, and enough variety that you can eat every day if you like, a lot of our customers do; a few times per day. It is just easy. You walk up to the display, point to what you want, pay and within seconds you snacking to a table or walk with your delivery.
We want to make the food everyone can eat every day; no gourmet foods should be assessed from time to time. Our food is seasonal and local.
Customers should not wait. They choose what they like and are served immediately. That's why we are constantly making food and people can see the kitchen and know that their food is made in a clean environment by following the highest standards. It is comfortable to just fall into one room and meet people. We wanted to keep this cozy environment of the small warung.
I love music here. Create your playlist?
Yes, KZU is all about the music. I listen to music on and off for 12 hours a day in my restaurants, so over time, I found that I like real music, not things done by a computer. I like to hear real voices with real people touch the strings. I like to mix the old music of the sixties and seventies. We also ensure that we have the music in the kitchen; people are always moving and it's good to have good music to move to.
What brings you joy in your life?
All the things that bring us much joy take a lot of work. My work and my family bring me the most happiness in my life. Being here in Bali and do what I like me brings great joy.