The Kalimantan Journey

As you may remember, months ago, heavyweight Chefs Will Meyrick from Sarong Group and Kevin Cherkas from Cuca landed in southern Kalimantan, Indonesia, to discover the stories behind all its delicious traditional dishes.

They immersed themselves in the history, recipes, culture and nature of the region and put together their lifetime knowledge and passion for food to proudly bring a few lucky guests their very own Kalimantan inspired creations at a dinner held in Som Chai, one of Will's famed restaurants.

A true collaboration built on hours and hours of day long discoveries, late-night discussions and early morning trials, where guests experienced a jungle-inspired soiree full of sensorial surprises including, among many more, the premiere of a short documentary depicting the chefs’ exciting journey and their behind-the-scenes kitchen sessions to jointly create the dishes for the event.

But the highlight of the evening, of course, was the food: a story-like menu divided into chapters that conveyed the soul, flavors, and identity of south Kalimantan through the trained taste buds and fearless creativity of the two chefs.

Follow their journey and this delicious story in this video series!

Our Picks: Kuala Lumpur

As we mentioned a few months ago, we are always sharing our favorite restaurants from every city we know with the hundreds of customers we meet in Cuca every week in search of the tastiest food around the world. People seem to trust chefs’ favorites when choosing food and since everyone asks our humble opinion, we decided some time ago to start a proper “Our Picks” section where we give you our recommendations on where and what to eat.

We have covered Bali, Madrid, Singapore and Vancouver already and today’s blog entry is about Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur has some of the best street food on the planet, period. The food is so good that we go at least once a year just to eat. No one is very friendly or cares about your feelings, but they do care about the dishes they put in your mouth and that is fine by me. So, go hungry and get ready to eat some of the best food you have ever tasted.

Wong Ah Wah

We go back to KL every year for this iconic institution. Open forever and packing in the tourist crowd this place serves brilliant Chinese style street food that is seafood-heavy. The menu is all with pictures and dishes are as shown. Dishes are available in 3 sizes, order everything small and try more. A must in KL!

Price: **

What to order: BBQ chicken wings

Shanghai

This place serves the best dim sum we have ever had, seriously! Go for lunch and get ready to be impressed. Stick to the dim sum menu as everything else gets very pricey and unusual.

Price: ****

What to order: Xiao long bao

Yut Kee

This place has been around forever serving classic hearty dishes. The menu is a mix of Chinese and western comfort food and the taste is like eating at Grandma’s house. Portions are big so go easy. Go for lunch.

Price: *

What to order: Crispy roast pork

Pizzeria Dihyang

This place serves traditional wood-fired classic Italian pizza and it is very good. Great ingredients, perfect cooking and astonishing quality for Pizza in Asia. A simple menu does the trick with great German draft beer on tap.

Price: ***

What to order: Mortadella e pomodoracio pizza.

Pinchos

This place serves perfect classic Spanish comfort food in Tapas form. Wine selection is solid and drinks come quick so you won’t get thirsty. A busy bustling restaurant so do book ahead.

Price: ***

What to order: Coca (a classic Catalan style pizza) 

Woo Pin 45 Kamunting

This place is famous for its fish head noodle soup. It does sound a little daunting but believe you me, it is not. The soup is a light fragrant broth full of clean flavors and a deep delicious roasted smoky taste. Think Chinese style fish Ramen. We think this place is a must eat!

Price:*

What to order: Get help from a neighboring table by asking what is best. The menu can be a bit challenging. Rest assured it works out very well.

Babe

This place serves well-crafted cheeky Japanese influenced upmarket tasting menus. The chef Jeff Ramsey gained a Michelin star in Tokyo with his previous restaurant and the view of KL from the dining room of Babe is the best in town.

Price: *****

What to order: Tasting menu

Help us help for Cuca’s 12 days of Christmas!

This year in Cuca, Christmas is not only about feasting, celebrating and spending time with loved ones in beautiful Bali. We want to make these 12 days, in the true spirit of Christmas, about giving, helping and caring, so we have handpicked 2 non-profit programs that are doing exactly that to combat some of the biggest challenges our community faces. How exactly? - you might ask. By donating 10% of our sales from Cuca’s best-selling signature Chef Tasting Menus!

From 21 to 26 December, profits will go to the “Bali Wise” program, a project aiming at empowering marginalized women through skill-based education. It has been Cuca’s philosophy from day one to train from zero young underprivileged Indonesians to become competent, qualified and self-confident hospitality professionals. Therefore, this program is definitely something that hits close to home.

From December 27 to January 1, earnings will be given to the “Zero Waste to Oceans” program, which is stopping land-based waste from getting into our oceans by teaching Bali’s youth green practices to create a sustainable environment. In Cuca, we educate our team in how crucial is to reduce, reuse and recycle and as a company strive to become zero waste, but since time is ticking, extending our efforts beyond our boundaries must be a top priority.

For all this we chose ROLE, a non-governmental foundation based in Bali, as encouraging and supporting their values and determination to make a difference is one of the best things we could all do this Christmas, don’t you think?

We all, residents and tourists alike, owe a lot to Bali, this paradise island that keeps on giving, so gather your loved ones, come to Cuca and help us help to create a better future and a happier, tastier today!