Through Jakarta Munch, chef, mother, entrepreneur, and storyteller Wulandari Del Valle is turning memory, resilience, and heritage into comforting Indonesian dishes made with love.
Some businesses begin with a formal plan.
Others begin with a promise.
For Wulandari Del Valle, the founder of Jakarta Munch, the promise came after years of rejection, frustration, and the painful realization that many people in New York knew Bali but did not know Indonesia.
She had arrived in America from Jakarta eleven years ago with experience, education, and ambition. Back home, she had worked in marketing communications. Finding work had never felt impossible. But New York introduced a different reality.
She applied to more than 250 jobs through LinkedIn and received almost nothing in return.
No interviews.
No opportunities.
No open doors.
Determined to work, she began walking into restaurants with her resume in her bag. Even then, the answer was often no. One day, after five rejections in a row, she attended a sixth interview. The manager praised her resume but still declined to hire her.
This time, she asked why.
The answer was one she would never forget: she did not have New York experience.
For an immigrant from Jakarta, a massive, fast-moving city with millions of people, the comment felt almost absurd. She understood pressure, pace, and hustle. She knew how to move through a city that demanded energy and resilience. Yet in that moment, she also understood something else. Many people had no real understanding of where she came from.
That experience planted a seed.
One day, she decided, people in New York would recognize Indonesia not as a vague idea or a distant place attached only to Bali, but as a culture with its own stories, flavors, and identity.
Food became her way to do that.
Jakarta Munch is not simply a restaurant business. It is a personal mission. Through Indonesian dishes rooted in memory, celebration, and family, Wulandari shares where she comes from one plate at a time.
Her menu begins with the food she grew up eating. Many of the dishes are connected to her grandmother, her childhood, and special celebrations in Indonesia. Some were foods she only ate once a year during Eid Mubarak. When she moved to New York, she found that Indonesian communities still prepared those dishes for the holiday, but again, only once a year.
As a chef and business owner, she made a different decision.
If these were the foods that made her happy, why should they be limited to one day?
At Jakarta Munch, celebration could become everyday comfort.
That emotional connection is central to her cooking. She does not begin by asking what might sell fastest or what might look most familiar to American customers. She begins with what she loves. She begins with memory. She begins with the food that made her feel at home.
From there, she works until the flavors match the feeling she remembers.
Her goal is simple and powerful: she wants people to feel warmth, comfort, and love when they eat her food.
Everything is made from scratch, and she hopes that care comes through. The energy placed into each dish is part of the experience. For Wulandari, cooking is not only about feeding people. It is about offering them a piece of home, even if it is a home they have never visited.
The road to building Jakarta Munch was not easy.
The brand was founded in 2020, only weeks before the pandemic began. After applying to Smorgasburg for five consecutive years with different proposals, Wulandari was finally accepted. It should have been a breakthrough moment. Instead, the world shut down.
But she did not stop cooking.
During lockdown, she sold food through Instagram and offered free delivery. Each week brought a different menu, and orders continued to grow. At a time when uncertainty defined daily life, her food became a source of comfort for customers. She was making between $1,000 and $1,500 a week from food prepared and sold independently.
Then came another turning point.
When Smorgasburg reopened in 2021, Wulandari had just given birth to her second child. She was breastfeeding, exhausted, caring for two children, and trying to imagine how she could possibly shop, cook, serve, and run a business at the same time.
She thought she might have to say no.
Her husband reminded her that this was the opportunity she had been chasing for five years.
If not now, when?
That support became essential. When asked how she balances motherhood, marriage, and business, Wulandari gives a direct answer: find or marry the right partner.
Her husband, an Afro Puerto Rican native New Yorker, encouraged her to be herself and pursue the vision she had been building for years. His belief helped make Jakarta Munch possible.
It is a reminder that entrepreneurship is rarely a solo journey. Behind the public-facing business is often a private network of support, sacrifice, and encouragement.
Wulandari is more than a chef. She is a mother, restaurateur, accountant, marketer, strategist, and creative force behind the brand. Like many small business owners, she carries every role at once. The work requires discipline, flexibility, and faith.
Her advice to future entrepreneurs is clear: just do it, and be flexible.
Not flexible in effort. That part requires stubbornness.
Be stubborn about making it work.
But remain flexible in your mind, your emotions, your plans, and your expectations. Things will not always unfold perfectly. Plans will fall apart. Rejections will come. The ability to adapt without losing the larger vision is what keeps a dream alive.
That mindset is visible in the food itself.
Indonesian cuisine is full of color, flavor, and complexity, and Wulandari brings an artist’s eye to presentation. Even friends and family from Indonesia have commented that her dishes often look brighter and more visually composed than what they are used to seeing.
She credits instinct.
A turmeric curry brings natural yellow. A spicy sauce glows orange from red pepper, tomato, and turmeric. Sweet soy sauce creates deep brown tones. Purple cabbage, something she did not grow up seeing in Indonesia, becomes a vibrant pickle on the plate. Roasted chicken, which could easily appear simple and brown, is elevated with mixed greens, pickled carrots, soy sauce, and hot sauce.
The more the merrier.
For Wulandari, beauty does not have to feel forced. The colors come from real ingredients, natural flavors, and a willingness to play. The dishes are designed to be comforting and nourishing, but also visually alive.
There is artistry in that balance.
Like a painter building a canvas, she thinks through color, texture, contrast, and emotion. The plate becomes a composition, but one meant to be eaten, shared, and remembered.
Her creative ritual begins with coffee. Strong coffee. As a mother of two and a working chef, she considers it non-negotiable.
In the kitchen, however, she does not rely on loud music to enter a creative zone. She prefers the sound of the work itself. Pots, pans, bubbling sauces, frying food, and kitchen tools create their own rhythm.
That is her music.
The sound of cooking becomes part of the process, grounding her in the moment and connecting her to the food she is preparing.
Today, Jakarta Munch continues to grow beyond pop-ups and daily food service. Wulandari recently launched catering after realizing there was strong demand for special events. What began casually, with customers asking if she could cater, has now become a more structured offering with menus available through her Instagram and Linktree.
Pop-ups remain an important part of her story. They helped her connect directly with customers, gather feedback, and understand what people wanted. Those early interactions shaped the business and continue to influence its direction.
Looking toward the future, Wulandari’s ambition is bold.
She wants Jakarta Munch to become bigger and better than Chipotle.
Not simply as a business goal, but as a cultural one.
She wants people to normalize eating Indonesian food that is healthy, delicious, comforting, colorful, and quick. She wants Indonesian flavors to become part of the everyday food conversation in New York and beyond.
It is a big dream, but Wulandari has already built a life around turning no into momentum.
Every rejection became information.
Every setback became a chance to adjust.
Every closed door pushed her closer to the kitchen, where she could finally tell her story in her own language.
Through Jakarta Munch, Wulandari Del Valle is doing more than serving food. She is building recognition for Indonesia, honoring her memories, feeding her community, and proving that a dream carried with love can grow into something powerful.
One dish at a time, she is making people taste home.
About Tarik Talk Podcast
Tarik Talk Podcast takes listeners inside museums, galleries, artist studios, art fairs, and creative spaces around the world through conversations with artists, curators, collectors, cultural leaders, and creative professionals. Hosted by artist and podcaster Tarik Mendes, the show has featured more than 200 episodes across 50 seasons, filmed in over 10 countries and heard by audiences worldwide.