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For months, Australia’s leading and award-winning winery Wolf Blass has searched high and low for unique South East Asian talent, and they’ve found exactly that in Thailand-based Chef Phattanant Thongthong (aka Chef May) and Malaysian natives Kenji Chai, a street artist, and Chef Carrie Scully. The three of them are headed to Manchester to show off their talents to a new audience, to the recently-crowned Premier League champions Manchester City.

Their ferocity and dedication to their respective industries is reminiscent of the Man City players’ passion for the beautiful game, which is exactly why they’ve earned the chance to display their passion for their respective crafts with Man City stars Fernandinho, Claudio Bravo, and Fabian Delph as their audience and activity partners.

Bringing the East and West

Chef May from Thailand is a self-taught chef that’s known for her signature dishes combining flavors from East and West. This year, she’s taking her passion for fusion to a whole new level, as she’ll be serving up some of her signature fusion dishes to some unsuspecting Mancunian palates.

So what’s on the menu for Man City? How about a northern Thai-style beef tartare with avocado cream? It’s like Steak Tartare, but way better. We’re starting to get just a little jealous of those Mancunian stars.

Those Manchester City tastebuds better prepare themselves for an explosion of flavor, as Chef May’s about to spice up some lives.

Spray it, don’t say it

Ever seen the colorful streets of Jalan Kamunting, Sandakan, Penang? Meet the visionary who’s behind it all. Kenji Chai, aka Chaigo is a street artist whose passion for street art goes beyond wanting to paint a pretty picture. Connecting people with his art is just what he hopes to do with his work, and he’s done just that, while bringing some color into peoples’ lives.

Each of his artwork speaks for itself, as they usually come with a hint of social commentary. Kenji hopes his work will evoke emotions and spark necessary conversations in today’s political climate, which is why it’s not difficult to see why he’s been compared to the likes of Banksy, Lady Pink and Blek Le Rat.

After spray-painting his way through Malaysia, the US, China and Spain through the last decade, he’s more than ready to bring his intricate stencil patterns and lively colors to the city of Manchester.

Shaking it up a little goes a long way

A career change in a completely different industry sounds terrifying, but sometimes it just might be the best decision you can possibly make. Just ask Malaysian Chef Carrie Scully, who quit her corporate manager job to become a full-time chef. Now, she’s the proud owner of her own tapas joint, Tiki Taka, in Kuala Lumpur.

Bringing to the table a mix of distinctly South East Asian flavors as a result of her multicultural background, Chef Carrie serves up modern yet traditional Spanish tapas and pintxos with a hint of Asian influence as head chef of Tiki Taka.

Interestingly, Tiki Taka is also the cooking style that Chef Carrie uses to prepare her signature Tiradito, which incidentally shares the same name as the fast-paced football style Manchester City is known for. It’s safe to say that their passion for their work isn’t the only area in which they overlap.

Stay tuned to watch our Southeast Asian talents meet with the Premier League champions!

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