CUCU: where family meets food

When I think of CUCU, I think of family. Everything CUCU does breathes family, and that’s no surprise. The great inspiration behind CUCU is grandma Neila Pattisahusiwa and the restaurant was opened in honor of this special woman. CUCU, which means ‘grandchild’ in Indonesian, is run by grandma Neila’s grandchildren, which gives the restaurant that extra edge. Besides it’s spectacular food, the restaurant has another rare specialty; it makes you feel like you’re part of the CUCU family. It is therefore no surprise that since CUCU opened its doors, the restaurant’s been an immense success. But where did the passion behind CUCU come from? And who are the people behind this spectacular restaurant?

Leila Hamer

Every success story starts with a great idea. The brain behind CUCU was Leila Hamer, grandma Neila’s eldest granddaughter. Being the eldest granddaughter, Leila was practically raised in grandma Neila’s dapur (kitchen). Leila: “I think I was five years old when I started cooking Moluccan food. My grandma used to give me important chores, like cutting butter beans. She also allowed me to stir in the pans. Every since I can remember, I’ve been cooking. And I always enjoyed it. Cooking is simply a part of me.”

Throughout her life, Leila was always busy with cooking, but it wasn’t until she turned forty that she realized she really wanted to do something with it. Amongst her friends she was always known as the one who could cook the most amazing food. Leila: “My friends would always ask me: hey Lei, could you make us some soto, or make some of those delicious spring rolls of yours. I always had that feeling inside of me telling me that I should do something with my cooking. When I turned forty, my ideas about opening a restaurant started taking shape. In that same year CUCU was born.”

Passing on the tradition

CUCU is based on one particular idea: passing on the family tradition. With its food and personal décor, you can see how important the family bonds and traditions are for the restaurant, and the CUCU family has made it their goal to keep their family traditions alive. Leila: “I realized that if we don’t pass anything on now, it would be lost forever. And if I don’t act on it now, then no one will ever know that my grandmother got on a boat 65 years ago to travel to the other side of the world. I was raised in the Netherlands, so I’m a Dutch woman, but in my genes I’m Moluccan.” From the moment Leila got the idea for CUCU, she realized she wanted to run the restaurant with her family. The first person she shared the idea with was her niece Karima, who is CUCU’s restaurant manager. Leila: “Karima was the only member of our family that had already worked in hospitality. The rest of us had to learn the hospitality business from scratch.”

Introducing the prep team: CUCU’s aunties

When you run a restaurant, you need to do a lot of prep work. For a long time the restaurant’s food was prepared by the three aunties of the family. The aunties would start preparing food at 9 am in the morning and finish at 4 pm. Doing prep work was considered a very special job that was only to be performed by the aunties themselves. Leila: “In the very beginning the aunties allowed our boys to watch when they were preparing the food. At times they were even allowed to hold a wooden spoon, but the cooking would be done by the aunties alone.” With time the ‘cooking dynamics’ started to change. The boys are now allowed to help prepare the food and cook dishes themselves. Leila: “What’s now happening at CUCU is that the 2nd generation is working together with the 3rd generation. The 3rd generation is learning all about our family’s food traditions and I really hope that they will pass on the knowledge to the 4th generation. That would truly be a dream come true.”

Oma Neila

When speaking about her grandmother, it’s very clear that the bond between Leila and her grandma Neila was very special. Leila: “She’s my role model and source of inspiration. She had to work incredibly hard throughout her life, but she was always very positive. The way she lived her life is truly inspiring and a great example to others.”

Grandma Neila and her husband are both from Ambon, the capital city of the island Maluku. 65 years ago they moved to the Netherlands. In Leila’s memory, grandma Neila was always cooking. Leila: “She was very creative with food. When we would have old pieces of bread, she would turn them into pancakes. And she had this thing where she would squeeze all the fishes at the market and look straight into their eyes before she bought them. She was a special woman." Leila does not have a lot of memories about her grandfather, except for one of her grandfather’s special traditions. Leila: “My grandfather would always dip his peanut butter sandwich into his kopi tubruk (Indonesian-style coffee, also know as “collision coffee”). It seems a bit odd, but he absolutely loved it.”

Traditional Moluccan food

CUCU’s menu is based on the food that grandma Neila used to cook at home, which is typically Moluccan. Grandma Neila never wrote down any of her recipes, so the menu is completely based on what Leila and her aunties remember about grandma Neila’s food. One of these dishes is Ambon koho-koho. Leila: “Koho-koho is a kind of salad. Some people like to eat it with herring, but we like to eat it with mackerel. The dish is usually also eaten with kasbi (steamed cassava). We also have different types of baked fish on our menu. Baked fish plays an essential part in Moluccan cuisine and its food we always eat.”

One of Leila’s favorite dishes is papeda, which is also typically Moluccan. The dish cannot be found on CUCU’s menu, but the restaurant does serve it to visitors who request it. This choice actually relates to Leila’s childhood. She always used to eat papeda with her grandmother. Papeda is usually eaten with tjolo-tjolo (a cold ketjap sauce) or pindang kuning (yellow mackerel steamed in turmeric and other herbs.) Leila notices that papeda is making quite a comeback. “Many people come to CUCU to eat papeda. According to tradition, papeda should actually be sipped, which is how we eat papeda at home."

All of CUCU’s dishes are prepared with fresh herbs. In many dishes kanari nuts (a kind of almond) and special palm sugar are used, but that depends on the restaurant’s food stock. Leila: “I prefer using authentic ingredients, but I can’t really get them here in the Netherlands. So whenever a relative goes to Indonesia, we always ask them to bring ingredients that aren’t available here.” When it comes to spiciness, the Moluccan cuisine is distinctly different from other Indonesian cuisines. While some Indonesian kitchens are spicier due to their use of more trassi, sereh and spicy herbs, Moluccan cuisine is much softer and milder. Leila: “Nasi kuning from Bali or Java is much spicier than the Moluccan nasi kuning. Our nasi kuning is made out of pandan leaves, kelapa muda (coconut) and kunjit (turmeric), which are much milder flavors.”

Contemporary and hip

Apart from CUCU’s unique cuisine, the restaurant also differentiates itself from other Indonesian restaurants because of its contemporary style. Every element of the restaurant has a specific uniqueness to it, such as CUCU’s lamps, which are made out of cages that were originally used for cockfights. The restaurant’s interior is a complete mix of authentic and traditional pieces of furniture, which can be seen from the multicolored vintage plates, the secondhand chairs and the modern dressers. Leila: “I see CUCU as a hip Asian restaurant. The main focus for me was that the restaurant should look beautiful and inviting, and its style really just developed itself over time. I also make sure that we always have fresh and colorful flowers in the restaurant, because grandma Neila loved flowers. That way she is always present at CUCU.”

CUCU’s most popular dishes

The most ordered dishes at CUCU are the famous rendang and sate. When I asked Leila why she thinks these dishes are so popular, her answer was loud and clear. Leila: “People don’t tend to eat dishes that they don’t know. A lot of our first time visitors usually ordered the typical Moluccan dishes, such as nasi goreng, sate ayam and rendang. They generally don’t order the more ‘uncommon’ dishes we serve, because they aren’t familiar with the flavors. The Moluccan kitchen is very pure and the treasure of the island can be found in its herbs. With these herbs you can make the most delicious dishes and there’s a reason why Indonesia is called the Spice Islands. These flavors are definitely found in the more uncommon dishes we serve at CUCU.”

Before the restaurant opened, Leila had made the conscious decision not to serve rijsttafel (an assortment of Moluccan dishes). Her main idea was to serve Moluccan food in the form of tapas (an assortment of small dishes). However, she quickly realized that Dutch people are familiar with the rijsttafel, and that it would be best to serve it after all. A good choice in the end, because most of CUCU’s visitors still order a rijsttafel.

Future dreams

What’s amazing to see is that CUCU has become incredible successful in such a short period of time. What’s even more exciting is that the restaurant continues to flourish today. With its new toko, CUCU has expanded its business and popularity across the Netherlands. Moluccan families from all over the country visit the restaurant for its spectacular food, and it’s become a common phenomenon for Moluccan grandmothers to take pictures with their grandchildren in front of the restaurant. With it’s major success, is there anything else the CUCU family wishes for in the future? Leila: “What I really hope is that CUCU continues to be as successful as it is today and I hope that everyone who’s now working at CUCU can continue working here as long as they like. Perhaps we can also expand our catering business, but this is only possible if it doesn’t affect the restaurant and the aunties can manage the extra cooking.” Leila also hopes to introduce many more people to traditional Moluccan food and their family history. Leila: “If I manage to pass on my family’s history and traditions, then my work here is done. The idea that when I’ll be gone, but CUCU will still be here, that would be the biggest gift anyone could give me.”

CUCU

Veerplein 18, 3331 LE, Zwijndrecht

078-7370323

info@CUCU.nl

Website: www.CUCU.nl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUCUnl

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