How Chefs are made

Achieving something great doesn’t have the same meaning without putting in the years of work to get there. It’s like taking a helicopter to a mountain top rather than spending the gruelling effort required to climb it. The beauty is the same and the location identical, but it’s the effort that’s missing, and that’s where the reward means the most. That’s what makes this story so special.

Cooks and Chefs today are created differently than those of years gone by. Cooking is a trade, and cooks are therefore considered tradesman/women same as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics… Trades are learned through years of practice and a formal apprenticeship, and if you can “take the heat” and master your craft after a few decades, you just may one day get the title of Chef. Today things are different, and Chefs, thanks to the spotlight they get from television and social media, are unfortunately considered rock stars, so the jump from a few years in culinary school to Chef is sadly now the norm. But not in this case…

These four Chefs that run Cuca took the long road, starting in our Stewarding department and climbing slowly over 11 years until they reached the top of the Culinary Mountain. No shortcuts, no easy days, no excuses. These guys, our 4 Chefs de Cuisine in Cuca, are the best of the best, and the foundation of skills and knowledge they have built is unshakable. We are extremely proud of what they have achieved and grateful for the long road they took to get there! We hope their dedication shines in every bite you have with us.

The Heart Behind the Plates: A day in the life of Cuca’s Balinese team

 A Day in the Life of Chef Casper

At Cuca, we take pride in more than just the food we serve; we celebrate the people who make it possible. In our latest video series, “The Heart Behind the Plates”, we offer an intimate look into the daily lives of Cuca’s Balinese staff, showcasing their personal stories, cultural heritage, and passion for their work. Each episode follows a different team member, from kitchen to waitstaff, highlighting both their professional lives at Cuca and their personal lives at home. 

Balinese start the day with Canang sari—an offering to the gods in Balinese Hinduism. This ritual, symbolizing gratitude and respect, sets the tone for a balanced day, reinforcing the importance of spiritual well-being. It reflects the essence of Bali: a seamless fusion of devotion, hard work, and serenity. 

In Balinese culture, family is at the heart of everything, so our team begins and ends their days with loved ones—morning prayers, shared meals, and meaningful time spent together. Family bonds provide the strength and support needed to navigate the challenges of a busy day. These strong ties carry over into the restaurant, where our team operates as a family, working together with shared passion and respect. As the day progresses, you will witness our team’s dedication to their craft. Every dish they prepare and serve is more than just food—it is a labor of love. This passion stems not only from expertise but from a deep cultural pride. The precision and care taken with everything they do reflect the harmonious connection between work and culture.

But the day isn’t solely about work. A critical element of these videos is the emphasis on balance—Tri Hita Karana, a philosophy that promotes harmony between people, nature, and spirituality. This belief shines through in how our team maintains a peaceful connection with their work, family and the local community around them. Their journey exemplifies the perfect blend of professionalism and personal well-being.

At Cuca, we don’t just serve food; we share the stories of our people—those who are deeply connected to their family, culture, and community. Through their passion, spirituality, and balance, our team brings heart and soul to every dish we serve!

Cuca, an agent of change.

Every month a rotating team from Cuca joins efforts with our friends from SungaiWatch to tackle the critical situation our water ways face. Led by one our senior managers, staff and interns spend the morning cleaning Bali’s mangroves and the afternoon sharing a well-deserved lunch while reflecting on plastic pollution and on what each of us can do to make a change. These are our team’s thoughts and wishes for a brighter future, one where the rivers flow clear and free. 

The happier the chicken, the better the egg. The better the egg, the tastier the food.

Oh, we love eggs! But not all eggs. We love really good eggs, and it has kind of become an obsession. Actually, they are quite possibly our favorite ingredient. But sadly, we have come to learn that not all eggs are created equal.

Essential to a great kitchen, eggs are a staple in baking, fundamental for a good old fashion breakfast and the easiest solution to a quick meal. They can be found in all sorts of food, and maybe that’s the problem. High demand always encourages speed and production over health, and the quality of the eggs we consume today is very different from that of the good old times.

You can basically separate eggs into two categories: one is packed with protein, full of healthy omega 3 fatty acids and nutrients, and the other is basically an imposter containing less than half of the nutritional value and full of things that we probably should not be eating. Now, it’s nice to pass by a farm and see a sign “EGGS FOR SALE”, grab a dozen and problem solved, but that is not practical for a business going through a few hundred a week. So, what’s the solution? That was the same question we were wondering until we recently began talking to the fantastic people from the NGO Animals Don't Speak Human, who opened our eyes to the extraordinary contrast between battery-caged and cage-free chickens. Hens raised in battery cages spend their whole lives in tight, terrible circumstances, unable to spread their wings and walk freely and we couldn’t let that be part of Cuca’s food story—so with this NGO’s guidance, we scrambled to make a change.

We learned that unlike batter-caged chickens, cage-free hens have the space to walk around and behave naturally like birds, laying in nests as well as selecting the food they prefer like wild flowers, grass, seeds and insects. This transforms the yolk into a rich, creamy custard, the white into a magical firm protein-packed jelly, and the shell into a hard impenetrable force unlike its opposition.

We have always believed that the food we serve in Cuca must be primarily nutritious, so much so that we did not serve eggs in any form for the first few years, just because, quite simply, they were trash. The result of treating chickens as machinery, their food as performance fuel and the product as a commercial good focused not on flavor or nutrition but volume and uniformity, is unsurprisingly a smelly, dirty, unthinkable food source in the shape of an egg.

If we are not willing to eat them ourselves, we would never serve them to a customer. With that said, Cuca is excited to announce we are using only cage-free eggs in all our dishes. Here’s to happier chickens, better eggs, and tastier food!🥂 🐥🥚😋

Adventure Awaits!

We grew up with the most incredible playgrounds as kids in Canada and Spain. Giant timber castles to climb and run through encouraging creativity, imagination and personality. Today, sadly, that has all changed and what you normally get are colorful plastic molds that are merely copied and pasted with the same boring stuff: a slide… a swing… a tick-the-box and “we are done” approach to fulfilling the obligation to kids.

Well… that’s not our style in Cuca and we wanted something that would make kids lose their minds. Something that was a throwback to the good old days of fun and excitement, where the ideas and obstacles are limited only based on your imagination.

The problem is that that requires thought, time and work, and nobody was interested to help us do something different. The proposals we received were so boring and so pathetic that we ended up losing 3 different deposits to avoid settling for mediocracy. Through the years, we continued to push forward to find incredible. We wanted a structure that felt part of the tropical forest, something that blended into the beautiful environment we are in and gave the feeling of camping, adventure and nature.

After 13 months and too many idiots to count, finally we are days away from revealing our new playground in Cuca. Now… there will be a few kids who hit the deck, a few who scratch a knee, a few who bang an elbow, but all will run mentally towards it, drawn to the raw natural excitement and unbeatable adventure that awaits!