Erwin Tjahyadi is an Indonesian-American Chef based in Los Angeles, California.

Erwin was born in Surabaya, Indonesia. He first became interested in cooking when he was a little kid watching culinary shows. His family would immigrate to California and Erwin would grow up in the San Gabriel Valley. As he grew older, it became a hobby of his and started to work in restaurants in his teenage years.

In his twenties, Erwin was dissatisfied working in lab tech because he knew it wasn't his passion; the thing he would look forward to most would be cooking dinner when he got home.

He decided to enroll in Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena and graduated with the highest honors. He started my professional career with an apprenticeship with the prolific Wolfgang Puck. I then studied under the guidance of Chef Trey Foshee at San Diego’s prestigious Georges at the Cove before completing a stint as lead cook at Hotel Bel-Air.

Due to union disputes while he was working at Hotel Bel-Air, Erwin and a friend decided to open a food truck, Komodo which served Moden California Asian Food Cuisine.

It was the height of the recession and their concept went on to become a huge success.

Erwin now operates two Komodo restaurants in Venice and Pico-Robertson.

He is going to open another restaurant, Bone Kettle, which culinary inspirations stem from Erwin's Southeast Asian Heritage and diverse upbringing in Southern California.