They sell cooking experiences and experience boxes. The three essentials of Three Spice are Arulampalam, Kelleher and the customer.

Last Christmas over one of Arulampalam's famous meals, the two spoke about their passions: hospitality, connecting with people, cooking and chasing flavour. The idea for Three Spice started to simmer.

Arulampalam grew up in Malaysia. Her mother gave her a passion for cooking, and she experienced a wide variety of foods in her childhood.

"I've been exposed to so much food. I travelled everywhere in Malaysia because my dad's job required him to travel to many states. My dad would travel three hours to get the best Chinese, seafood, or noodles," she says.

When she moved to Sydney she missed authentic Malaysian. Like her father, she found herself travelling hours to find the best laksa. When she cooked in her kitchen she was chasing recipes from her childhood. She'd call her mother who encouraged her to use her intuition.

Arulampalam recently established her own spice brand called Surasa.

Kelleher is a warm and friendly people-person, but she's also creative. She makes handcrafted ceramic earrings, jewellery, mugs, plates and bowls through her brand Claycrush.

"It's been great to combine both of our skillsets," Kelleher says.

They tested the market with their experience boxes, containing Arulampalam's spices, chutneys and Kelleher's ceramic bowls and also products from the third sister-in-law's organic beauty range. Over five weeks they sold over 50 boxes while working their full-time jobs. It was a good sign.

In 2021 Arulampalam and her family moved from Sydney to Newcastle, and they regrouped with their ideas to not only offer experience boxes but also a boutique cooking school.

They continue to sell the gift boxes which range in price from $110 to $135. The boxes vary, but all come with Surasa curry kits, teas, cocktail garnish pack and one of Kelleher's ceramic bowls.

Now, they're also offering customers a luxurious chance to learn how to cook it the Malaysian way.

They teach in small groups of up to six people in Arulampalam's cottage in Cardiff Heights; she does the cooking and Kelleher is the host.

Kelleher offers all visitors her turmeric gin infused cocktail with cloves, star anise, lime and ginger. They offer Malaysian and Indian starters.

"Within an hour you have a really beautiful meal that's easy," Arulampalam says. "Everything is non-processed pure healthy ingredients, but flavoursome while you learn about the spices, the benefits, warming spices vs cooling spices. It's an educational process as well."

"The senses are hit from the minute people walk in," Kelleher says. ""You don't always have to have a cheese platter."

They're giving curry classes with the plans to offer more. They offer meat, seafood and vegetarian versions.

The way Arulampalam teaches is different from the way Kelleher learnt growing up in Australia. It's traditional Malaysian, but it's traditional to Arulampalam's family.

Kelleher said it's quite special, comparable to an Aussie lamb roast over here.

"It's like walking into my mum's house, you're sharing and it's very intimate," Arulampalam says of the cooking experience.

Though lockdown is easing, they'll continue to offer virtual cooking classes as well, and their customers can use their gift boxes to get started. (The gift boxes come with a QR code so you can pull the recipe and video up on your phone.)

While the spices are integral, they stress that it's not about heat and chili.

"Most people say 'I don't like spicy food.' There will be a hint of chili there, but Malaysian food is not on that heat level of super super hot," Kelleher says. "The spice is flavour - cinnamon, cumin, the saffron. It's all those spices that come together. We're trying to educate that spice means flavour."

With their powers combined, they hope to bring a warm, welcoming palatable vibe to Cardiff Heights and the rest of region.