The pop-up event marks the festival's debut in Singapore, and its first-ever expansion outside Malaysia.

July 26,  2023, Malaysia    Kita Food Festival   (KFF) officially announces the programme for the Singapore Weekender pop-up event which will be held from October 19-23, 2023.  The pop-up is part of the overall Kita Food Festival, with the main festival to be held in Malaysia (Kuching, Penang and Kuala Lumpur); however this special pop-up event marks the festival's debut in Singapore. For Kita Food Festival 2023's Singapore Weekender event, chef Ivan Brehm from Michelin-starred Nouri and Appetite will be the guest curator.

The Singapore Weekender pop-up will comprise of four- and six-hand dining events at various restaurants, along with a Big Sunday Barbecue and Kita Conversations, which is a series of TED style talks from leading chefs, food thinkers,  and producers from around the world. This year's Singapore Weekender pop-up is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board. 

In 2024 and 2025, the main KFF festival will be held in Singapore with pop-up weekends to be held in Kuala Lumpur and other Southeast Asian cities.

“In my mind, Kita's success is the result of content and its potential for community impact and development. An event built by and for our F&B family of chefs, diners, farmers, thinkers and innovators.  This year we are happy to announce a selection of panellists who have made their life's work to develop the F&B industry each in their own diverse and topical ways. Guest speakers and chefs whose contributions not only impact the way we cook, but also engage with food culture, our impact in the world and its food security, our relationships at work, our choices, the health of our minds and our bodies. The opportunity to host talks that are meaningful, free of lip service and true to the regional and universal realities of feeding people, is why I believe Kita Singapore is a force for good. I am convinced that anyone who cares for what they cook and eat should come be a part of it,” said Ivan. 

Guo Teyi, Director, Retail and Dining, Singapore Tourism Board, said, “We are honoured that Singapore has been chosen as a launchpad for Kita Food Festival's regional expansion, fostering camaraderie amongst the foodie community and bolstering Singapore's reputation as a culinary capital. The festival's inspiring programme provides a platform for many celebrated regional and Singapore-based culinary talents to learn, collaborate and showcase their wonderful creations. We look forward to welcoming everyone to the Singapore Weekender pop-up event.”

Kita Food Festival co-founder and chef of Michelin-starred Dewakan in Kuala Lumpur, Darren Teoh, said,  “When we started Kita, we knew that the community needed to be at the heart of everything we did. These past few years have seen the culinary landscape go through unprecedented changes -  from the way we do business, to the way food is consumed. We felt it was time stakeholders from across Southeast Asia's food and hospitality industry found a voice and spoke across the region. We aspire to build a platform to discuss issues important to the industry here and now; to become a center for knowledge generation and distribution; a beacon for the next generation of professionals; and more importantly, we also want to have a really good time”.

Singapore Weekender Events  |  October  19 -23

Monday  October  23  | Kita Conversations

Kita Conversations is a series of TED-style talks with an on-going dialogue on all thing's food including its production, history and consumption in South East Asia.  Speakers include:

• London-based chef, teacher and author  Annissa Helou who specialises in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cuisines.
• Author of 'The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through the Archipelago' Khir Johari  specialises in Malay history  and how food has played a part in shaping Singapore Malay culture.
• Indian chef  Prateek Sadhu 
• Nithiya Laila, the presenter of  'Edible Wild' on Channel News Asia which shows  how netizens in Asia's megacities grow, forage and cook with indigenous ingredients. 
• Dr. Farshad Shishehchian from Blue Aqua, a pioneer in inland aquaculture and  the inventor of MixotrophicTM system, a super-intensive but fully sustainable shrimp and fish farming system.
• Matt Orlando, the American-born, Danish based chef and owner of restaurant Amass, and  leader in the sustainable food movement.  
• Australian Matt Stone, arguably the leading sustainable chef in Australian dining and author of 'The Natural Cook'.

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

India's  Prateek Sadhu will join forces 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.  

Saturday October 21 | Six-hand dinner at Kubo, Singapore 

Join 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 at Kubo for 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.

Sunday  October  22 | Big Sunday Barbecue

The Big Sunday Barbecue is an all-star lineup of Singapore's best up-and-coming chefs and hottest barbecue restaurants.  There will be eight chefs, each 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.

The Kita Food Festival is a series of dining events and food celebrations which will be  held from September 27 (Kuching), October 13 – 15 (Penang), October 19 - 23 (Singapore) and  October 26 – 30 (Kuala Lumpur).  The festival will feature both Malaysian, Singaporean and renowned international chefs for a series of fine dining and casual dining events, along with two Big Sunday Barbecues and one The Great Mezze.  It will also include two symposiums titled Kita Conversations with TED-style talks from chefs, food producers,  historians, and anthropologists discussing topics pertinent to the industry, such as sustainability, food waste, and how to make a business profitable.  

Tickets for all events will go on sale on August 11.   For more information about the Kita Food Festival and to stay up to date with news and upcoming events please visit Kita Food Festival  or follow us on social media:    Facebook    Instagram and  Linkedin

To download the full  Kita Food Festival press kit with images and chef/ speaker bios visit  HERE   For media enquiries or to arrange interviews please email  media@kitafoodfestival.com  or contact:

Donna Campbell

Campbell PR  |  Email:  donna@campbellpr.com

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About Kita Food Festival

Kita Food Festival (KFF) is an annual food event bringing together leading chefs and culinary minds from around the world.  The event was created to put Southeast Asia on the gastro-tourism map while creating a community of  people who appreciate good food and where it comes from   The event also aims to give the Southeast Asian dining scene a yearly event to look forward to, while offering inspiration and skills for the younger generation of food producers – and a platform for discussing food consumption and the restaurant industry. Kita means “us” or “we” in Bahasa Malayu. This appreciates that in the act of eating, the production of food and caring for a sustainable future, the festival's main themes, go beyond race, colour, creed and socio-economic status

Ivan Brehm  | Chef-owner, Nouri and Appetite, Singapore

Ivan Brehm is the chef-owner of one Michelin-starred restaurant Nouri (established in 2017) and the creative interdisciplinary space, Appetite (established in 2020).  He is recognized for developing a system of thought – of which cooking is a part – called Crossroads Thinking.

Nouri was created from the conviction that no food culture exists in isolation.  By cooking food rooted in research, the restaurant creates dishes that are universally delicious, exploring our shared history and a future of respect and diversity.  Beyond concepts, philosophies, or types of cuisines, Nouri is a place that celebrates people in all our differences and similarities.

A floor above sits Appetite,  a creative space that brings together an R&D kitchen, art gallery, and record bar to create a new kind of community across boundaries.  Sitting at the crossroads of gastronomy, visual arts, and music, Appetite's mandate is to explore intimate appreciation of these creative forms of expression and promote trans-disciplinarity with thorough research, food and meaningful experiences.

https://nouri.com.sg

https://appetitesg.com