Kita Food Festival 2023 is heading to Singapore this October

The word Kita means ‘Us’ or ‘We’ in Malay and as such signifies that the Kita Food Festival is all about embracing all cultures and bringing food lovers together to enjoy the act of sharing and learning about sustainable food production with the theme ‘We Are One’.

CONTENT: Andrew Kho
IMAGE: Kita Food Festival

Kita Food Festival Celebrates the best of Southeast Asian cuisine this October.

Back for its third edition this year, the festival which started in Malaysia is heading to Singapore for the very time from 19-23 October, following the tour at some of Malaysia’s cities: Kuching (September 27), Penang (October 13 to 16) and Kuala Lumpur (October 26 to 30). The festival will showcase renowned international chefs for a series of dining events and symposiums including two Big Sunday Barbecues and one The Great Mezze.

Kita Food Festival co-founders Darren Teoh, a Malaysian-born chef and head of Dewakan in Kuala Lumpur, Australian-born food and travel journalist Leisa Tyler, who was on the board of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for 10 years, Malaysian-born Adrian Yap, the founder of Tiffin Culinary who hosts F&B centric pop-up events and food hall Tiffin at the Yard and Urbanscapes, Malaysia’s longest-running creative arts festival aims to put a spotlight on Southeast Asia’s emerging food scene and to also offer inspiration for the next generation of food producers. The founders’ further promises an array unique Southeast Asian culinary experiences with some of the region’s best chefs, winemakers and food thinkers from around globe.

One of the key highlight of the festival aside from the series of dining events is the Kita Conversations, an on-going dialogue for everyone working in the food and beverage industry and will tackle issues from food production, sustainability and all other food related matters. The symposium will bring together a line-up of speakers such as London-based chef, teacher and author Anissa Helou, who specialises in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cuisines, American-born, Danish based chef and owner of restaurant Amass, Matt Orlando, presenter of ‘Edible Wild’ on Channel News Asia, Nithiya Laila, Pastry Chef – Will Goldfarb from Ubud’s Room4Dessert, Bangkok’s Deepanker Khosla from Michelin starred Haoma and more.

Further, this year’s festival will see the launch of Horizons, a mentorship programme designed to introduce young Malaysian chefs to new ideas and opportunities that they would not otherwise get access to. Horizons will take 12 young chefs all under the age of 30 years on two excursions around the Malaysian Peninsula to visit local farms and factories and masterclasses which will shape the next generation of chefs to be long-term ambassadors of Made in Malaysia.

Here are the events you can expect at the Singapore Weekender Kita Food Festival 2023:

Thursday October 19, Friday October 20; Four-hand dinner at Marguerite, Singapore

India’s Prateek Sadhu will partner with Michael Wilson from Marguerite in Singapore for a four-hand dinner. The two chefs will create a thoughtful tasting menu based on Prateek’s quest to discover the lost ingredients of India, with Michael’s worldly cuisine.

Friday October 20; Four-hand lunch and dinner at Fico Masseria, Singapore

Italian born Mirko Febbrile from Fico Masseria and food author Anissa Helou will host a lively lunch and dinner at this charming Italian seaside destination.

Friday October 20, Saturday October 21; Four-hand dinner at Underdog Inn

Australian chefs Matt Stone from Mosey on Inn (@ciaomate & @youbeauty2479) and author of The Natural Cook, along with Peter Smit from Underdog Inn will combine their unique Aussie talents to create lunch and dinner feasting menus across two days.

Friday October 20, Saturday October 21; Six-hand dinner at Fiz

Michelin star chef Ivan Brehm from Nouri along with Deepanker Khosla from Haoma in Bangkok and chef-owner of Singapore’s Fiz Hafizzul Hashim celebrates the influences of India’s culinary heritage on the Malaysian Peninsula.

Saturday October 21; Six-hand lunch and dinner at Kubo, Singapore

Avant garde Filipino chefs Ross Magnaye from Serai Kitchen in Melbourne, John Kevin Navoa from Hapag in Manila and Kurt Sombero from Kubo in Singapore brings you a six-hand Filipino feast lunch and dinner. The three chefs are in the vanguard of a New Filipino food movement emerging, one which takes the flavours of the archipelago and presents them in a new and more modern light.

Saturday October 21 & Sunday October 22; Four-hand dinner at Candlenut, Singapore

Discover the shared heritage of flavours and ingredients of Indonesia and Singapore in a four-hand dinner by Putu Dodik Sumarjana of Bali’s Nusantara by Locavore and Malcolm Lee of Singapore’s Michelin-starred Candlenut

Sunday October 22; Big Sunday Barbecue at Raw Kitchen Bar, Singapore

The Big Sunday Barbecue is an all-star lineup of Singapore’s best up-and-coming chefs and hottest barbecue restaurants. Eight chefs are paired into four teams. Each team will rein command over a barbecue, flame grilling an array of dishes throughout the evening. Rounding out the barbecue will be great tunes, craft beers, cocktails and more.

Chefs include: Marcus Tan, Fool Wine Bar, Singapore, David Tang, Rosemead, Singapore, Matteo Ponti, Braci, Singapore, Sunny Leong, RVLT, Singapore, Son Pham, Sonny’s Pizza, Singapore, Ahmir Arshad, Wildcard, Singapore and Fariz Ramli, Revolver Singapore.

For tickets or more information about the Kita Food Festival, visit Kita Food Festival