Singapore’s gourmet food and wine purveyor Culina opens across the causeway

Gourmet food and wine emporium Culina opened its first overseas branch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today. The brand, which turns 30 this year, is a part of homegrown hospitality company, the Como Group. 

Located in the basement of The Shoppes at Four Seasons Place in the Malaysian capital, Culina is a multi-concept space similar to its Singapore branch. This venue, which is over 18, 500 square feet, houses a market, bakery, wine bar, and bistro. Design-wise, it is inspired by Mediterranean marketplaces, with a fluid and open layout. The concept will be opened in stages, starting with the bistro, followed by the market on 12 September.

At the market, guests will be able to buy a range of sustainable products, including seasonal produce and specialty ingredients. Customers can also get their hands on ingredients that were previously only available to chefs in fine dining restaurants, such as caviar from the Petrossian family in France; fresh Burrata, flown in from Sorrento, Italy, every Thursday; or cuts of Australian lamb brought in twice weekly. Guests can also shop Culina exclusive brands, such as London Tea Exchange, from the United Kingdom; and French juice brand, Alain Milliat. 

Tired guests who want to rest can also stop by the 19 seat wine bar. This bar stocks more than 450 labels, including vintages such the Pavillon Rouge, Margaux 1989 from the Chateau Margaux vineyard, located just north of Bordeaux. These wines are also for sale so that guests can return home to enjoy them.

Just beside the wine bar is a bakery which offers a variety of breads and cakes, for guests who are looking for ready-to-eat food for breakfast or a snack. The bakery also serves coffee from Guerilla Coffee, a Singapore-based specialty coffee roaster.

New pizza offerings

At the heart of Culina’s new location is the bistro. Here, guests can savour dishes from a menu curated by Culinary Director Timothy de Souza, who has also been the head of Culina’s Singapore bistro since 2018. This restaurant serves contemporary European dishes made from the market’s produce, and has a custom-built pizza oven exclusive to the Kuala Lumpur branch.

This special pizza oven allows the bistro to produce dishes such as the Shawarma Lamb Shoulder Pizza — where lamb shoulder braised for six hours with herbs such as harissa and coriander is shaved over a tomato-based flatbread to produce Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours. 

The bistro also gives guests the option to choose meat, seafood, and charcuterie options from the specialty counters and have them prepared and served at the bistro. This gives diners the opportunity to try some of the gourmet ingredients sold by Culina. For example, diners can add Petrossian caviar to some of their favourite dishes, like beef tartar, escargot, or lobster roll.