Zen Ong, chef and founder of specialty food experiences, Inda and Awan, first left Australia and came to L.A. in 2015 to help a friend open up a business. Nine years, two businesses and some really good “not ice cream” later, Ong is still in L.A. serving up nostalgic Indonesian flavors in West Hollywood.
In a fireside chat held by USC Flavors and the USC Association of Indonesian Students (ASIS) on February 22, Ong opened up on his experiences as the owner of two small businesses and his journey as an Indonesian chef.
Ong’s start as a chef began in his local hometown in Sydney, Australia, starting off at local restaurants before building his way up to Bentley in Sydney. After several years of working in the food industry, Ong noticed the absence of Indonesian fine dining. Now, it’s his life’s goal to create an Indonesian restaurant with a Michelin star.
“For me, I noticed that there’s a couple of [Indonesian] restaurants that are fine dining globally and their main focus would be ‘Let’s mix Indonesian food with French or Italian’ and I was never a big fan of that,” Ong said.
His first business venture was Inda, a series of pop-up dinner experiences hosted around L.A. serving 12 dishes that show off the diverse flavors of Indonesia’s many regions. The aim was to create feelings of nostalgia while presenting Indonesian food in a new, innovative way. The pop-up’s first night sold out, and when Ong walked out to greet the guests, he was hit with the biggest compliment: endless comparisons of his Indonesian food to their family’s versions.
“The criticism was comparing me to their mom or grandma. To me, this is like comparing me to Michael Jordan. As long as you put me in this bracket, it’s a win,” Ong said.
After Inda came the creation of Awan, a dessert shop created by Ong and co-owner, Tohm Ifergan.
“Awan, in a lot of ways, was just meant to be me dipping my toes into the water of owning a restaurant in L.A.,” Ong said.
Awan is hidden in an alleyway in West Hollywood selling scoops, pints and quarts of what they call “not ice cream.” Awan, meaning “cloud” in Bahasa, uses Indonesian coconut to create a creamy, frozen dessert akin to ice cream. Though, they’re not legally allowed to call it ice cream since their product doesn’t contain any dairy, therefore, they’re “not ice cream.”
Regardless of their product name, it’s undoubtedly delicious. Awan’s silken smooth texture and delectable flavors can be attributed to Ong’s emphasis on quality ingredients. Their Gaviota Strawberry uses strawberries that come straight from Harry’s Berries in Oxnard, California while their famous Balinese Vanilla Bean sources vanilla from Bali, Indonesia. These flavors change approximately bi-weekly and are decided upon through access to seasonal, local produce and memories of Indonesia.
“Nostalgia is a massive inspiration for us,” Ong said. “Nostalgia is a simple thing to chase but a difficult thing to tap in.”
Despite their current success and expansive menu, Awan started out with nothing but $30,000 and a single freezer. Originally, Awan wasn’t meant to be a storefront but rather an ecommerce business or a vending machine that sold exclusively Balinese Vanilla Bean pints and quarts to consumers to bring home. After realizing the idea wasn’t feasible, Ong took up a location opportunity from co-owner Ifergan. Thus, Awan was officially established, tucked away at a take-out window next to Ifergan’s cafe, Dayglow Coffee.
“I still, to this day, believe that foot traffic is important. But, if the product and the experience is good enough … people will come,” Ong said.
During Awan’s inception, Ong originally ignored the creative aspect. Ong’s opinion only changed after Ifergan convinced him of the importance of branding and design. Thus came the creation of Awan’s logo, a pixelated serif font with Awan in all-caps.
“We told people we were loading through COVID, so everything’s pixelated. And once we finally opened, it’d be fully crispy and good,” Ong said. “We fell in love with the idea that we’re always loading and always changing, so we just kept it pixelated.”
With branding, flavors and a storefront set and ready to go, Awan officially opened in Sept. 2021. On opening day, not only was it flooded with interest from friends and family but also journalists and food critics.
“We had the L.A. Times come in on day one and I was like aw, we’re set,” Ong said. “I thought we were going to crush L.A.; we were going to have five stores across L.A. and then we’ll have an exit strategy with Nestle.”
But like the majority of small businesses in L.A., Ong faced a lot of difficulties. A wet winter slowed down foot traffic and rising rent costs loomed over the store. Ong made several financial decisions such as being Awan’s single worker to cut costs; with savings and a one-man team, Awan was able to survive the year. The dessert shop has been growing everyday since then, serving customers with never-seen-before Indonesian flavors and fun collaborations such Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights flavor which combines Filipino Ube with the all-American classic: the Oreo cookie.
“For me, it’s much more interesting to go down the path of giving people something they can’t get anywhere else,” Ong said. “We would do collab[oration]s with fine dining chefs, pastry chefs, etc. … we wanted to give that experience you wouldn’t get at other ice cream shops.”
Looking towards the future of Awan, Ong has his sights on global endeavors. Currently, they’re making deals with investors in the U.K. and developing licensing deals in Mexico. The long term goal is to have a coconut farm and distribution center in Indonesia which will give back to the Indonesian community and provide jobs.
For Trojans looking to open a food business, Ong emphasizes the importance of being realistic and understanding the struggles that come with being a small business owner.
“Be strategic with it. At the end of the day, it is business. You will lose friendships, you will make friendships. [But] you need to make money at the end of the day to be viable. If you can do it doing something you love, that’s [the] best case scenario,” Ong said.
And for Trojans trying to figure out how to know if an ice cream shop (or a “not ice cream” shop) is good or not, Ong recommends getting vanilla.
“Any time you go get ice cream, you try the vanilla and it’ll set the tone for what the rest of the menu is going to be like,” Ong said.
Inda is currently not accepting reservations. Awan can be found on 866 Huntley Dr. in West Hollywood, right next to Dayglow Coffee.