Reaching new heights

Celebrating Modern Southeast Asian Cuisine: from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta and Manila.

- RENYI LIM

Meet some of Southeast Asia’s rising stars who have taken their cuisine to new heights. They champion local ingredients and flavours, while weaving in their personal journeys and culinary philosophies, presenting thoughtful, nuanced menus layered with inventive techniques and their versions of nostalgia. Proud of their rich cultures, they choose to showcase the vibrant diversity of what their backyard has to offer, while elevating their creations on a global stage. We shine a spotlight on these mavericks.

One singular sensation

ESA’s exciting ‘new Jakarta cuisine’ aims to represent the Indonesian capital in all its colourful, vibrant diversity, playing with home cooking and modern culinary techniques to infuse their debut menu with a generous dash of nostalgia.

Here’s a tricky question: in a city as sprawling, densely populated, and diverse as Indonesia’s capital (its current metro area population stands at just under 11.5 million people), how do you define the Jakartan palate? “From our perspective, it’s very unique,” comes the response of Chef Aditya Muskita and restaurant director Jessica Eveline. ‘We, as part of it, grew up with a blend of cultures. The flavours of the city are so distinct: it’s bold, yet at the same time comforting. The cuisine itself is what we think of as being metropolitan. There are lots of versions of the same dishes, each having their own character.

“That’s also what we’re trying to do here: Indonesian food, but Jakartan character.” Enter ESA: a contemporary dining destination that launched in January this year, in the urban setting of the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD). Taking its name from the Sanskrit word ‘esa’, which means ‘one’ or ‘singular’, not only is ESA the first venture for its three partners, but it represents their shared vision of ‘the new Jakarta cuisine’ and the collaborative spirit that drives the restaurant.