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Photo: Kita Food Festival
Chef Ivan Brehm of one-Michelin-starred Nouri is the guest curator for the Singapore leg of Malaysia’s Kita Food Festival 2023, now in its third year running.
The Brazil-born chef will be “instrumental in bringing together some of the best chefs in the region, as well as showcasing his own talent to guests attending the event”.
Spanning October 19 to 23, the so-called Singapore Weekender of the festival consists of seven collaborative dinners, featuring notable chefs from around the region working hand in hand with local culinary greats, and a gastronomic symposium to round off the festivities.
A collaborative meal from Kita Food Festival 2022. (Photo: Kita Food Festival)
Notable collaborations include a four-hands dinner at Michelin-starred Marguerite in the picturesque Flower Dome at Gardens by The Bay, where Australian-born chef-owner Michael Wilson seeks to create fermented, smoked and wood-fired culinary delights using lost ingredients from the Himalayas with famed Indian chef Prateek Sadhu of Mumbai’s Masque Restaurant.
There will also be a chance to examine the intricacies of Indonesian and Straits-style cuisine in a four-hand dinner at one-Michelin-starred Peranakan temple, Candlenut. There, chef-owner Malcolm Lee and Putu Dodik Sumarjana of Bali’s Nusantara by Locavore plan to unleash a collaborative menu tinged with hyperlocal ingredients and a culinary heritage informed by their ancestors.
Brehm himself will be holding court as part of a six-hands collaboration at newly opened contemporary Southeast Asian restaurant, Fiz, where he’ll be working alongside its chef Hafizzul Hashim and Deepanker Khosla, the Indian-born chef-owner of Michelin-starred Haoma in Bangkok. Expect a tasting menu that explores the culinary influences of India in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula.
And then there’s the Big Sunday Barbecue, featuring eight up-and-coming chefs from the likes of Revolver, Rosemead and Wildcard, coming together to serve a flame-kissed feast at the Raw Kitchen Bar in Kallang.
The Big Sunday Barbecue from Kita Food Festival 2022. (Photo: Kita Food Festival)
The exact dates of each collaborative dinner are available at Kita Food Festival 2023’s website. You’ll want to move quickly, as one event – featuring Fico’s Mirko Febrille and Lebanese chef Anissa Helou – has already been sold out.
The event was the brainchild of Malaysian-born chef Darren Teoh of Kuala Lumpur fine diner Dekawan; Leisa Tyler, an Australia-born food journalist and board member of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for 10 years; and Malaysia-born Adrian Yap, founder of Tiffin Culinary and food hall Tiffin at the Yard with the goal of spotlighting the vibrant Southeast Asian culinary scene.
Teoh’s fine-dining restaurant will feature in the final Kuala Lumpur leg of the festival from October 26 to 30. He will be working alongside chef Rene Stein of one-Michelin-starred Tisane in Germany.
Singapore-based chefs making the pilgrimage to the Malaysian capital for the festivities include Julien Mercer, executive chef of French restaurant Claudine, sharing the kitchen with Masashi Horiuchi of Entier; along with Carlos Montobbio, Spanish restaurant Esquina’s executive chef, who will be making an appearance at the KL edition of the Big Sunday Barbecue.
Find out more.
