Hello and welcome to the menu, Monocle Radio's food and drink program.
I'm your host, Chiara Mella.
Last year, the menu traveled from Bhutan to Argentina and got a taste of anything from honey to chili oil.
Today, we're looking back on some of the most delicious highlights of 2024.
Coming up, we spotlight an impressive chef championing the fiery food of Malaysia.
Seeing all my family take care of me and just be there for me and feed me all these really incredible dishes and basically made me realise this is what I need to do.
I need to learn these recipes.
I need to take it back to London and show everyone what Malaysian food is.
Also in the program, we revisit our interview with one of the world's most famous and respected chefs, Rene Redzepi, to talk about his documentary project.
The theme is love.
That we fall in love with things as a people and it's something that seasons our food and makes us happy.
Plus, we unpack the cultural significance of rye in Finland with our contributor extraordinaire, Petri Burtsoff.
All that here on the menu on Monocle Radio.
On this show, we speak to plenty of chefs, many of whom follow quite a formal route into training.
For many of them, that means learning the intricacies of classic French and Italian cooking.
For Abili, that was the path into chefing at a high level.
But when it came to finding a way to really express herself through food, she realized it was the dishes from her heritage that connected to her the most.
At her restaurant, Mambo in London, she cooks a punchy version of Malaysian food that stays true to the flavours of home while also making a confident and modern impression.
Having started as a pop up in the southern neighbourhood of Peckham, Mambo now has a bricks and mortar home in Clapton in the city's east.
Here, Lee works at the Open Kitchen to deliver dishes that are about comfort, but with a kick.