Liwetan-In-A-Box

Irza Noer Hajati

Irza Noer Hajati is a traditional Indonesian chef who hosts cooking classes where she teaches the history and cultural tradition of each dish. Irza and her husband, Aditya, are originally from Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia, and together they co-founded Pecel Ndeso, a licensed Indonesian community catering company, named after Irza’s specialty dish, Pecel (Indonesian pronunciation:

). This is a traditional Javanese salad, consisting of mixed vegetables in a peanut sauce dressing, usually served with steamed rice or compressed rice cakes of either lontong or ketupat style. The word Ndeso is used in Javanese language to mean village or villager. The couple started this business venture in 2005 by making small batches of food and selling them in Indonesian stores in South Philadelphia. The food was so sought after by local residents that the couple started being hired to cater for special occasions. Since then, Pecel Ndeso has participated in many community events in South Philadelphia. Their services & cooking are sought after by Indonesian communities up and down the East Coast, including the Indonesian Consulate General in New York City.

Agnes Rosliana Zigmund

Agnes Rosliana Zigmund is a sought after pastry chef, renowned for her delicious creations that utilize Indonesian traditional recipes and baking techniques. She learned the art of making cookies from her mother, who used to wake her up at two-thirty in the morning during the holidays to start baking the desserts for family get-togethers. Equipped with her family recipes, Agnes continued the baking tradition when she moved to the US, where she began selling nastar (pineapple cookies) in a local Indonesian restaurant. Her confections garnered such attention that in 2012, with her husband, Mitch, she started a small wholesale bakery called Z’s Kitchen, which specializes in eighteen types of Indo-Dutch cookies and seven types of cakes.

Nowadays, Z’s Kitchen supplies stores in Philadelphia and New York, and they ship their baked goods all over the country, including Canada. Agnes and Mitch open tables at bazaars, attend events from Virginia up to New Hampshire, promote the Indonesian culture, and educate others about Indonesia. Agnes’ biggest honor was when her bakery was chosen by the Indonesian Embassy in Washington D.C. to supply our lapis legit (layer cake) for a reception party to welcome all incoming ambassadors to the United States, including everyone in the U.S. Senate. According to the ambassador, the cakes did not last long. In 2015, Z’s Kitchen was recognized as one of the successful immigrant businesses established in Philadelphia by the Women’s Opportunities Resource Center. In 2018 she formed her LLC and was registered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

While Agnes and Mitch have worked hard to establish Z’s Kitchen as a valued asset to the Indonesian community and are proud to share a little bit of Indonesia with the many different people they meet in their travels, their dream is to one day retire on a beach in Indonesia with their feet in the ocean.