The first Jakarta Culinary Festival in five years is taking place in Senayan City, Central Jakarta, hosting an array of culinary options from both local and international chefs and restaurants.

Local lifestyle gargantuan Ismaya is the brains behind this event, stepping away from organizing music event, which elevated its name, and returning this year to organize a culinary festival, which is running from Nov. 16 to 19.

The festival itself is spread between two outdoor tents in between the mall, with little indication of anything else going on besides eating and food. One tent, called the Spoon tent, contains a bar, several restaurant booths featuring some of Jakarta’s classiest restaurants, as well as smaller stalls occupied by the top 20 most popular eateries on the food delivery app Go-Food.

The other tent, the Fork tent, is more sparsely populated, looking rather emptier than the crowded Spoon tent, and houses several dessert stalls. Half of the section is dedicated to coffee houses.

Workshops on cocktails, baking, latte art and food photography are also being held during the festivities, given by the festival’s guest chefs and several local names and eateries. Drinks tastings, cooking demonstrations and talk shows with culinary figures are also on the agenda.  

By combining street food and high-class restaurants in one event, Ismaya feels there will be no divisions between consumers, thanks to the universality of the food and the accessibility of the event to all.

“JFC 2017 is made to be a kind of culinary journey with lots of different food. Aside from that, the festival hopes that it can do its part to advance the beloved Indonesian cuisine that we all love so much,” Ismaya Live’s assistant brand manager Sarah Deshita said Thursday during the event’s opening ceremony.

In keeping with their festival mindset, Ismaya also brought out several international chefs to participate as the de facto “headliners” of the event. Eleven international chefs and coffee figures, as well as 27 local chefs grace this year’s lineup.

One of the guests is Majunath Mural, a Michelin-starred chef from Singapore, whose restaurant, The Song of India, is one of the most sought after dining experiences in the city state.

In his brief Jakarta visit, his restaurant’s booth served up a relatively affordable version of his signature beef, chicken and shrimp biryani dishes, to the delight of many.

Like his other international counterparts, Majunath is participating in the Chef-to-Table experience, in which a select few will be able to enjoy his food directly guided by him.

Other guests include Tim Ross-Watson, Ryan Clift and Carlos Montobbio, each of whom are head of their own acclaimed restaurants in Singapore, and also former DJ Chele Gonzalez of the Gallery Vask restaurant in Manila, the Philippines.

“I’m always interested in Indonesian cuisine, which is always very diverse, especially its spices and its unique ingredients. I’m excited to be part of the Jakarta Culinary Festival this year,” Gonzalez said at the event, during which he will also be holding a special demonstration of Filipino and Indonesian cuisine alongside local chef Kim Pangestu.

Other international guests include Daniel Wilson of Australia’s famous Huxtaburger burger chain and Lino Sauro of Gattopardo Singapore.

Interspersed with the internationals are also local culinary, cocktail or coffee figures such as Kika Moka, Sisca and Novia Soewitomo, Renatta Moeloek, Eelke Plasmeijer and Aston Utan.

The previous Jakarta Culinary Festival, also organized by Ismaya, took place in 2012 at Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta and ran for an entire month. That year’s edition of the event also featured Ryan Clift as well as Mario Batali, Marcel Vigneron of Top Chef USA and Masterchef Australia judge George Calombaris.

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