Food is the one common thing that connects everyone together. And when food is combined with a festival, it becomes even better. Kita Food Festival is the one that makes it all special. Featuring an exciting and award-winning lineup of chefs, the festival which is going to its third year will take place in different cities.
Co-founded by Malaysia’s own local chef Darren Teoh of Dewakan, a Michelin Star Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, as well as Leisa Tyler who owns Weeds & More, and Adrian Yap, who runs Tiffin Culinary, the festival has been an event that people look forward to.
This year’s version of the festival includes dining events in Sarawak, Penang, the Klang Valley and even Singapore.
In Penang, Kita Food Festival have four spectacular food events that you may be craving for.
Four-Hand Dinner: Vaughan Mabee (Amisfield, Queenstown) x Kim Hock Su (Au Jardin, Penang)
October 13 at Restaurant Au Jardin
RM750.00 per person, inclusive of SST and Service Charge
Hailing from the rugged auburn hills of Central Otago, Vaughan Mabee is one of New Zealand’s best-known chefs. While a list of feats is tucked into his hunting belt- including MasterChef NZ judge and Cuisine Magazine Chef of the Year 2019/ 2020- it’s at Amisfield, a stylish restaurant overlooking the tepid shores of Lake Hayes outside of Queenstown, where his staunch dedication to terroir shines. An organic winery and restaurant, Amisfield is where Vaughan focuses on the exceptional bounty that temperate Central Otago bestows; the restaurant’s tasting menu changing daily to suit what the catch and harvest bring.
Tatler Dining’s Chef of the Year 2023, Penang born, UK educated Kim Hock has won a loyal following for his thoughtful interaction of Asian sensibilities with European techniques. Opening Au Jardin at Hin Bus Depot in 2019, he immediately elevated George Town’s dining scene; one which, until that moment, had been deeply rooted in a fiercely competitive, but exceptionally good, local food scene.
Four-Hand Dinner: Hans Christian (August, Jakarta) x Johnson Wong (Gēn 根, Penang)
October 13 & 14 at Gēn 根
RM550.00 per person, inclusive of SST and Service Charge
Opening its doors in late 2021, August, with Hans Christian at its helm, has quickly garnered the support and admiration of the culinary crowd in Indonesia. Drawing from his international past which included stints with the Alinea Group in Chicago and Fairmont hotels, Hans blends a distinctly French technique with the bounty of farms and fishermen stationed around Indonesia. August was lauded “the 2023 restaurant to watch” by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
Born in Johor Bahru, Johnson Wong spent many years working at restaurants in Sydney, Macau and Paris before returning to Malaysia and setting up shop in Penang. His devotion to the exploration and development of Malaysian ingredients and passion for local flavours was what led him to explore and develop his new Malaysian culinary identity.
Kitchen Takeover by Malcolm Lee (Candlenut, Singapore)
October 14 at Communal Table by gēn 根
RM 380.00 per person, inclusive of SST and Service Charge
Chef Malcolm Lee thundered into the history books when in 2016 his Peranakan- or Straits Chinese- restaurant, Candlenut, snagged a Michelin star- the first time Straits Chinese cuisine had been awarded on a global stage. The then young chef’s diligence and dedication to preserve the food of his ancestors went above and beyond: finding the time and patience to prepare ingredients the old way, like burying the delicate nuts of buah keluak to leach it of its poison before cooking into a rich earthy curry.
Malcolm’s second take is Pangium, named after the pangium tree that springs from buah keluak seeds. Pangium is a refined restaurant in the Singapore Botanic Gardens which offers a snapshot of Straits Chinese food but constructed in a swanky modern tasting menu.
For one night only, Malcolm will bring his Straits Chinese cooking to Penang with a full kitchen takeover at Communal Table by gēn 根. It will be a fitting dinner: Singapore and Penang share histories and family ties, being the two most important British-owned territories, known as Straits Settlements, during the colonial period.
The Great Mezze
October 15 at ChinaHouse
RM210.00 per person, includes 1 drink (beer, cocktail or water)
With eight chefs coming from both Singapore and Penang, they are paired over a barbecue station. With different types of dishes from these amazing team including sweet treats, and put that up together with cocktails, beer, and wines, a DJ, a live band and plenty of happy, hopping, party vibes scattered throughout art-music-wine-cake-café hub-du-jour ChinaHouse, and you have The Great Mezze.
Tending to the flames of the Great Mezze are:
- Jhiun-Dick Leong (Open Farm Community, Singapore) x Mathijs Nanne (Suffolk House, Penang)
- Eugene See (Birds of a Feather, Singapore) x Nurilkarim Razha (Jawi House, Penang)
- MJ Teoh (Native, Singapore) x CC Lee (Juju Lounge, Penang)
- Malcolm Lee (Candlenut, Singapore) x Wagyu Tan (Communal Table by gēn 根, Penang)
Find out more about the event in their website, kitafoodfestival.com.
