Planting seeds for the future.

About The Programme

Our Mission

To reach new heights of culinary innovation, we must look to the roots.

What can we do to enrich the future and allow the next generation of Malaysian chefs to flourish?

Enter Horizons: a one-of-a-kind, free-to-attend mentorship programme with farm visits, masterclasses, study groups, and cooking programmes; events which aim to inspire, advance, and broaden the horizons of a new generation of chefs.

Our Approach

Each year, we select a group of passionate and promising young cooks and take them on a culinary journey across Malaysia. There are visits to trailblazing local farms, producers and manufacturers, as well as masterclasses helmed by experts from the local food scene.

By bringing the young cooks up close and personal with ethical practices and giving them access to new ideas and techniques, we hope to broaden their worldviews and arm them with the skills that will help them thrive.

What we did during our 2024 Horizons programme:

A trip to A Little Farm on the Hill, a sustainable organic farm in Janda Baik growing about 30 to 40 types of crops at any one time.

A visit to Chocolate Concierge’s cocoa farm in Raub, home to Malaysia’s first single-origin chocolate and a pioneer in multi-story forest regenerative cropping.

An afternoon at Natural Tropical Farm, where farmer Eric Ng raises his free-range hens on an exclusive diet of produce grown on his two-acre plot and recycled oyster shells from Kuala Lumpur restaurants.

A talk by Chef Grzegorz Odolak, Executive Chef of Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur on food waste, followed by an exclusive tour of the hotel’s kitchens and farm.

GALLERY

Horizons in 2024

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A series of masterclasses by our mentor chefs, who each demonstrate a key flavour or technique they have mastered.

Special thanks to our 2024 mentor chefs:

Heng Kit is the head chef & Co-founder of LI Restaurant and LOCUS. A Kuala Lumpur native, Heng Kit grew up on a steady diet of Hainanese kopitiams, which in turn influenced his take on food – nostalgic flavours with a modern touch. Following a period of culinary studies and work in Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne, Heng Kit staged at Melbourne establishments such as Attica and Brae, gaining inspiration and accumulating a sense for what and how food can be, showcasing locality with influences from around the world. Heng Kit has a penchant for blending great ingredients with delicate textures, deep respect for Malaysian cuisine and solid culinary techniques.

Lim Heng Kit

LI Restaurant

Jack is the mastermind behind Chipta 11A, a curated dining experience served omakase-style. A self-taught East Malaysian chef, Jack often mixes and amalgamates flavours from multiple regions of the world to form intricate yet simple flavour profiles for his dishes. He started his career in Japanese restaurants when he was 16 years old. He was the Head Chef of an esteemed Japanese Restaurant in Klang Valley before being offered ownership at Awesome Canteen. At Awesome, Chef Jack was largely responsible for creating the dishes for nearly 6 years. His expertise comes from years of experience, as well as his love of his ethnic background plays a huge role in the types of food he rolls out.

Jack Weldie

Chipta 11A

Yavhin is the chef de cuisine at Nadodi. A second-generation Malaysian with strong Sri Lankan and Malayali familial ancestry roots, Yavhin strives to showcase the flavours and textures that his culinary heritage brings. Taking inspiration from his mixed cultural background and childhood memories, he interprets Southern Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine in novel ways while retaining the depth, vibrancy, and diverse flavours of the region. In recent years, Yavhin has been the driving force behind the success of Nadodi, which has garnered several prestigious accolades and further cemented its reputation as an exceptional dining establishment under his guidance.

Yavhin Siriwardhana

Nadodi

After immersive farm tours and skill-building masterclasses, our candidates were put into teams to source prepared then cook exclusive lunches for guests of Arla Foods Malaysia, our sponsor for this year’s programme. We held lunches in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, and Johor Bahru, with dishes incorporating local produce and Arla dairy products.

The Horizons programme will culminate with a special Thank You Dinner in Kuala Lumpur after the KL Weekender; an invite-only event for partners, chefs, collaborators and guardian angels who have made the festival possible. The hook? The Horizons teams need to come up with dishes using what are considered second-grade proteins and surplus vegetables, as an ode to food waste, creativity and inventiveness.

Horizons in 2024

Horizons 2024 is made possible with the support of Arla Foods Malaysia. Thank you for helping us along in our journey!

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© Kita Food Festival 2024

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