Why Michelin-starred chefs are flocking to Indonesia’s remote island for a unique culinary experience
Asia’s best-known hotel food festival has been taking place under the chandeliers of one of Thailand’s grandest hotels for more than a quarter of a century.
The World Gourmet Festival, held every September since 2000 at the hotel now called Anantara Siam Bangkok, has become one of the leading culinary events in the region, attracting the attention of Michelin-starred chefs and names on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
The World Gourmet Festival, which will run from September 29 to October 4 this year, continues the tradition with more than a dozen guest chefs from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
In addition to tasting dinners, the week also includes chef’s table experiences, master classes, wine dinners and culinary collaborations that have become a fixture in Asia’s gastronomic calendar.
But this October, another hotel food festival will bring together chefs of the same caliber in very different settings.
Sign up for the Traveler newsletter
The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.
Reachable a one-hour flight from Bali, Sumba has long been overshadowed by its famous neighbour. The remote Indonesian island receives only a fraction of Bali’s visitors, making it an unusual setting for a gathering of eight of the Asia-Pacific’s leading chefs.
But here at the Sumba Food Festival, hosted by luxury eco-resort Cap Karoso, the destination—its products, traditions, and producers—is the key ingredient.
Guests board fishing boats at dawn, tour the resort’s three-hectare organic farm, browse local markets with chefs, and then gather around communal tables to sample menus prepared from Sumba’s produce that day.
The concept proved its worth with the opening of the festival last year.
Singaporean chef Mano Thevar, whose restaurant Thevar has two Michelin stars, was so fascinated by produce growing meters from the kitchen that he expanded his lunch menu after discovering farm-fresh bananas, turmeric and galangal leaves.
Japanese chef Kanji Kobayashi, who built the famous Villa Aida around farming outside Osaka, admitted that many of Sumba’s plants and vegetables are foreign.
Cap Karoso founder Fabrice Ivara says the festival was created to encourage such encounters. Rather than flying chefs to Sumba just to cook, he asked them to spend time with local producers, explore unfamiliar ingredients, and leave with a better understanding of the island’s culinary traditions.
These discoveries shaped this year’s program. Over the course of two weeks, eight chefs from across the Asia-Pacific will each spend several days on the island cooking, exploring and collaborating.
Among them are Joseph Lidgerwood of Seoul, where Akşam has two Michelin stars; Osaka’s Yusuke Takada of the two-Michelin-starred La Cime; Davide Garavaglia of Mauro Colagreco’s Bangkok duo Cote and Dan Bark of Cadence; Rumari’s Balinese Gaetan Biesuz at Raffles Bali; Indonesian locavore pioneer Eelke Plasmeijer from Locavore NXT in Ubud; Keiko Kuwakino of Japan’s mountain restaurant Sanaburi; and Brando Moros, the Michelin-starred chef behind the 11th Woodfire in Dubai.
The format is intimate. Dinners for four, where two chefs collaborate on a one-off menu, are limited to just 22 guests. The broader program includes chef-led farm lunches, beach dinners and food safaris exploring Sumba’s diverse landscapes.
Opening in 2023, Cap Karoso placed a working organic farm at the center of the guest experience, making the festival a natural extension of the resort’s philosophy.
One of last year’s most memorable events wasn’t a Michelin-starred dinner, but a cooking competition featuring local home cooks. A participant who is over 100 years old helped many guest chefs bring new ideas to the house with the curry chicken recipe he prepared for the family.
Proceeds from the festival help fund clean water projects, nutrition education, sustainable agriculture initiatives, and grants for local food entrepreneurs working with Sumba’s indigenous products.
Sumba is best known for its wild horses, ikat weaving, the Pasola Festival of spear fighting, megalithic villages and rugged coastline. Although the Sumba Food Festival does not aim to change this situation, it adds another dimension to the taste.
Sumba Food Festival will take place from October 5-18. To see capkaroso.com
Julietta Jameson is a freelance travel writer who’d rather be in Rome, but her hometown of Melbourne is a happy compromise.Connect via email.
