Southeast Asia's Kita Food Festival, an annual multi-platform food and gastronomy event, makes its return in September and October this year, taking place in both Malaysia and Singapore. Designed to bring together the people who make up the region's incredible food scene, the event features a line-up of fascinating speakers, symposiums, four-hand dining experiences and workshops for young ambitious industry professionals.
Founded by Malaysian-born chef Darren Teoh, head chef of Dewakan, Kuala Lumpur; Australian-born, food and travel journalist Leisa Tyler; and Adrian Yap, Kita Food Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years to become a significant happening in the region, promoting Southeast Asian cuisine, talent and innovations, both locally and globally.
This year’s edition will feature over 80 participating restaurants of all levels, over 100 leading chefs from all over the world and a range of specially created pop-up dining experiences, across a series of events, taking place in Kuching (27 September), Penang (13 to 16 October), Kuala Lumpur (26 to 30 October), and in Singapore from 19 to 23 October.
Cook-ups and masterclasses feature in the format, as well as talks in the form of Kita Conversations, a space to facilitate dialogue about food and the challenges facing the food system in the region. Kita Conversations will cover issues around food production, its history and consumption, tackling the hard questions and exploring solutions.
Horizons
In addition, there is a free-to-attend mentorship programme called Horizons, which is designed to inspire, inform and upskill the next generation of Malaysia's top chefs. The programme takes 12 young chefs and exposes them to two, one-day excursions in the region to inform, upskill and inspire them.
The first, called The Big Day Out, which happened on 11 August, saw the young chefs visit a range of local farms and factories involved in producing premium quality foodstuffs and equipment for the Malaysian food and beverage industry.
The second, on 11 September, is dedicated to masterclasses and kitchen design study sessions with Horizons mentor chefs at Kitchen Inc.’s demo kitchen in Petaling Jaya.
Horizons culminates with the 12 young chefs being charged with the preparation of dishes for the Kita Food Festival’s Thank You Dinner, which will take place after Kita Conversations on 30 October. The meal will be prepared from food that is considered surplus or which would otherwise be wasted.
Kuching
The Malaysian city of Kuching will play host to a casual dining event on 27 September, to be held at Roots Bistronomy. The restaurant’s chef John Lim will be joined by chef Anthony Yeoh from Summer Hill in Singapore for a contemporary collaboration of European-style comfort food and creative fare.
Penang
Penang will then take up the Kita mantel from 13-15 October with events at Michelin-starred Au Jardin, where chef Kim Hock Su will be joined by New Zealand’s Vaughan Mabee, Masterchef judge and Chef of the Year, from Amisfield, in Queenstown. The event will showcase local ingredients and the skills of two chefs at the top of their game. Not to be missed.
Asia’s 50 Best One to Watch, August, in Jakarta will be represented by co-founder chef Hans Christian, who will join Malaysian chef Johnson Wong at Gēn 根i, for two dinners on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th of October. Communal Table by Gēn will be taken over by Singapore’s Malcolm Lee from one-Michelin-star Candlenut for a one-off dinner on Saturday 14th of October. Sunday the 15th will see eight chefs, four from Singapore and four from Penang, come together in the courtyard of the Chinahouse, to cook over open flames.
Singapore
The Singapore leg of the Kita festival kicks off on 19 October with a four-hand dinner at Marguerite. Indian chef Prateek Sadhu will team up with Marguerite's Michael Wilson to explore lost ingredients from the sub-continent together with Wilson's world cuisine.
The following day, Friday, October 20th, Fico Masseria will host a four-hand lunch and dinner with Mirko Febbrile welcoming food author Anissa Helou at the Italian seaside restaurant.
Friday, October 20th and Saturday October 21st will see an exciting four-hand collaboration with an Australian flavour take place at Underdog Inn with chefs Matt Stone and Pete Smit cooking lunch and dinner across two days.
Fiz restaurant's Hafizzul Hashim will host chefs Ivan Brehm and Deepanker Khosla for a six-hand dinner event on Friday, October 20th and Saturday, October 21st exploring the crossroads of Indian and Malaysian cuisine.
Kubo is the destination for a six-hand dinner on Saturday the 21st with Filipino chefs Ross Magnaye and John Kevin Navoa joining Kubo's Kurt Sombero to celebrate new cuisine from the archipelago.
Sunday is for The Big Sunday Barbecue where a stellar lineup of chefs will serve flame-grilled food throughout the evening at Raw Kitchen, Kampong Bugis. The chefs manning the grills will be Marcus Tan, David Tang, Matteo Ponti, Al Goh, Son Pham and Ahmir Arshad.
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur hosts a stacked schedule of gastronomic events from 26-30 October. Dinner at Entier will kick things off with two of the region’s best chefs cooking French cuisine: Julien Mericer from Singapore’s Claudine and Japanese-born Masashi Horiuchi from Entier, on Thursday the 26th.
Mexican-born Sergio Meza and Spanish-born Chele Gonzalez will serve Spanish and Mexican Tapas, in a lively atmosphere at Mano, on Friday the 27th. The same night and the following evening, the 28th, will see chefs Darren Teoh and Germany’s René Stein team up for an interactive, open-kitchen event at Dewaken.
The 27th and 28th will see Takeshi ‘Goh’ Fukuyama and Malaysia’s Shaun Ng collaborate on French-inspired omakase dishes at Hide. Top Japanese chef Keiko Kuwakino from Michelin-starred Sanaburi in Niigata, Japan will cook for a special one-night-only dinner with Lroy Lim at Ignis on Saturday the 28th.
Set aside Sunday the 28th for The Big Sunday Barbecue at Tiffin at the Yard, where a plethora of chefs will serve delicious food throughout the day, including Jovan Goh, Mohammed Eliyaz, Oliver Truesdale-Justra, Michael Yee, Carlos Montobbio, Leong Chee Mun, David Tang and Mandy Goh.
Monday the 30th is the day for KITA Conversations with author Khir Johari, presenter Nithiya Laila, chef David Thompson, anthropologist Dr Eric Olmedo and more joining for thought-provoking and engaging discussions about the future of food in the region.
Tickets for Kita Food Festival 2023 are on sale now.
Looking for new dessert ideas? Try this easy grape cake recipe: learn how to make a soft white grape cake, perfect for your Autumn meals and breakfasts.