Food Bites is revolutionising the food scene in Kuala Lumpur by making gourmet food more accessible and affordable. Kenny Mah investigates
Picture a Western town: It could be Montpellier in southern France or even a suburb in Melbourne, Australia. It’s Saturday and there’s an outdoor food market. Every stall displays their own locally grown produce and artisanal food – bottles of deepgreen olive oil and fresh olives; honey scented with rosemary, thyme or lavender; saucissons flavoured with herbs and nuts; stinky goat-milk cheeses and rough-looking artisanal breads to go with them. It is enough to make anyone’s mouth water.
Oddly though, those shopping at these specialty food markets are ordinary housewives and the occasional bachelors looking to fill their week’s groceries, not some wealthy aristocrats that we readily associate gourmet food with. It’s exactly this gourmet food myth that Food Bites, a Malaysian food market dedicated to ‘bringing gourmet treats to the curb side’, is trying to dispel.
Jenifer Kuah, who is the owner of Food Foundry and the curator of Food Bites, explains, ‘Gourmet food is marketed as a luxury, making it inaccessible to many people who may think they cannot afford it. I would like people to have great food, to cook it at home, to appreciate where their food came from and learn how to eat well and healthy.’
Hence Kuah’s motivation to take gourmet food out of hotels and fancy restaurants and offer it to the general public on the street. She adds that this is a great platform to bring foodies together, to encourage conversation about food, to talk about where it comes from and how to cook it.
The first Food Bites, held on a sunny Saturday in May, had a casual vibe with plenty of curious onlookers dropping by the stalls in the market. There were ‘haute dogs’ with kimchi and miso mayonnaise, and freshly brewed artisanal coffee. Alcoholic fare wasn’t forgotten – fudge brownies bathed in Bailey’s and Beer & Lime popsicles were up for grabs for the early birds. The gourmet mini-quiches – with flavours such as beef sausage with mint pea and curry spiced lentils – sold out in 90 minutes. According to Kuah, the response to the inaugural event in May was overwhelmingly positive: ‘There were queues! All vendors sold out – I think the event gave them a new confidence to pursue their dream in the food business.’
You may be surprised to learn that most of the vendors at Food Bites aren’t F&B professionals. From engineers to home bakers, what ties this diverse group of people together is their shared appreciation for good food and enthusiasm for experimenting in their kitchens.
But how did they make up for their lack of culinary expertise? For Transparent Apron’s Nicklaus Au this involves plenty of research: ‘I read a lot of cook books and go through cooking forums and websites to keep in touch with the latest techniques and equipment used by chefs worldwide.’ Karen Tan of #TartArt adds, ‘Travelling has also been another great way to sample new food and flavours, to know where my ingredients come from.’
Still, there’s this lingering perception that gourmet food has to be expensive. Victor Tee of The Potong begs to differ: ‘Ingredients don’t have to be expensive to be considered “gourmet” just as expensive food does not grant you the title of “gourmet” immediately.’
Ultimately, Kuah would like to see the snob appeal removed from gourmet food. For her, a bowl of well-prepared Air Itam assam laksa is ‘gourmet’ because it is made with the best local ingredients. This is no different from how the best chefs from around the world cook – they source locally and gather the freshest produce they can get their hands on to create their amazing dishes.
Perhaps renowned American writer Mark Kurlansky put it best – ‘Judging foods without regard to price is a rich man’s game, and yet poor people can be gourmets able to discern a good potato from a bad one.’ It’s clear that gourmet for the masses is here to stay.
Food Bites takes place Sept 29. See event listing for more info
__________________________________________________________________
Four things to try at Food Bites
Macerated strawberries on a black pepper baseIt all started with an empty pastry shell. According to Karen Tan of #TartArt, what she and her two partners saw were endless possibilities to host new combinations , fusing flavours to create a unique experience that was very different from the typical fare of cakes, cookies and cupcakes already dominating the food scene.
Inspired by a hashtag, #TartArt was born with the notion that ‘If you can’t beat them, trend them’, which describes how the team (all professional working people who enjoy baking) like to stand apart from the crowd. Try these tarts with a twist: Ruby Montana (macerated strawberries on a Sarawak black pepper tart base, topped with cream and aged balsamic vinegar); Smokey Popeye (smoked cod and creamy spinach in a sun-dried tomato tart); Marmalamb (lamb, onions and mushrooms with marmalade for a fruity twist, served in herb pastry).
As with many great ideas, this one came up over a cup of coffee. (Make that many, many cups of coffee.) The team behind coffee microroasters espressoLAB – Leong Hoo-Yin (the founder, previously in skincare retail), Daniel Liew (a corporate HR trainer) and Joshua Liew (trading in engineering hardware) – first met at a coffee lovers’ gathering. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the conversation they struck up that day eventually led to a business that currently includes retail outlets (espressoLAB+), a roasting facility (espressoLAB Roastwerks) and a barista training school (espressoLAB Coffee Academy).
From sourcing directly from farmers as well as buying them from major traders and ensuring good coffee processing practices; to getting that perfect roast and finally brewing the best cup of coffee they possibly can, Leong hopes to do justice to the bean itself, and to the many hands involved in the coffee trade chain right from crop to cup. espressoLAB currently features over 20 types of beans sourced from all around the world. The Guatemalan, Brazilian and Colombian coffees are blended before roasting to medium, while the Sumatran is roasted separately to medium dark and blended later. Their latest ventures include espressoLAB Singapore as well as new outlets at The Gardens and e@Curve.
Gourmet food vendor by day, secret underground supper club by night; Transparent Apron adds an air of mystery to your friendly neighbourhood food market. Why so secretive? Well, the location of the supper club remains undisclosed except to guests (a mix of friends or complete strangers) who get to enjoy their take on Italian-French cuisine in an exclusive atmosphere.
The team behind this enterprise comprises Ryonn Leong and Nicklaus Au, friends who first met while performing with the Young KL Singers choir group five years ago and shared a passion for food. Au had graduated from a culinary arts course but was unable to find a decent job in the local F&B industry. Leong pitched the idea of starting a supper club to Au and Transparent Apron was born in May this year.
Signature dishes include the BRB (Bacon Rice Ball) which are balls of Risotto Arancini (Italian for ‘little orange’) deep-fried with bacon bits and breadcrumbs, and the Pork-gy, a melt-in-your-mouth tender pork belly braised in Guinness stout and spices for six hours and served with a rich dark sauce. As the sign on their stall warns: Definitely not halal.
Remember the good ol’ days when we were children waiting for the ‘potong’ man on his bicycle? The ringing of the bell would make all the kids dash out for the cut blocks of popsicles.
It’s this slice of nostalgia that the Potong crew – Ivan Lee (a HR consultant), Victor Tee (an investment banker) and Tee Reei Toh (an interactive designer) – aims to bring forward to the present, updated by having every popsicle handmade using only 100 percent fresh, natural ingredients.
These gourmet popsicles (or ‘pops’ as The Potong calls them) come in seasonal flavours with no preservatives or artificial colouring. Favourites include Strawberry Pepper (a hit of spice adds an unexpected kick to the fresh strawberry puree), Rosy Mango (mango with the citrus flavours of grapefruit and a hint of rose water) and Teh Tarik (Earl Grey tea is used to put a spin on the classic Malaysian drink).
via timeoutkl.com
Talkpropeller 