Not all of us in the dining room knew each other well but a narrator came in to break the ice. He introduced us to the experience we were about to have, as letters started to appear "magically" on the blank page of the book. “Le Petit Chef, in the footsteps of Marco Polo”, it read.

Not long after, Le Petit Chef, the smallest chef in the world started to run around on our table, presenting us with the story of his journey around the world. Scenes depicting the chef’s journey played right on our table, from hustling in the Himalayas in order to whip up lemon sorbet and masala chai, to braving the ocean to look for ingredients needed for steamed gindara and lobster medallions for our Chinese main course.

As if magically, Le Petit Chef vanished and real food arrived in front of us, ready to be savored.

This is not a dining experience people enjoy every day but it has been sought after as a novelty. While gourmands have understandably spent a small fortune for high quality, rare ingredients and a meticulous way of cooking, some are pursuing culinary journeys with the intention of finding meaning beyond fine-tasting food.

Le Petit Chef, a theatrical dining experience that relies heavily on video mapping, is light entertainment that decorates a delectable menu. The so-called smallest chef in the world, being cute and adorable, provides the audience with a sensorial experience when enjoying a meal but does not require them to ponder heavily over anything presented.

However, there are many other names that offer novelty dining experiences.

Read also: Spending millions on a meal: Indonesian patrons 'collect moments' in restaurants

Those who have been keeping up with such lists as World’s 50 Best Restaurants or The Michelin Guide must be familiar with the likes of The Fat Duck in Bray, the United Kingdom, and El Bulli in Roses, Spain, for example. These restaurants, founded by Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria, respectively, had tables that were almost impossible to book, if not impossible at all.

A 2015 Guardian piece on the Fat Duck pointed out that there were 30,000 booking enquiries a day for the restaurant, which was only open 260 days a year.

Meanwhile, El Bulli, which closed in 2011, handled incoming reservations with a lottery system, according to BBC.

Both the Fat Duck and El Bulli specialized in molecular gastronomy, presenting rare ingredients, an unusual combination of flavors and advanced cooking techniques. Patrons dined for the experience and the discovery of cutting edge culinary creations, instead of merely delicious food. Imagine the Fat Duck menu such as “The Day Before We Go: Are we nearly there yet?” comprising “Change-of-air” and “Just the tonic!”. Its dessert menu is named “And then to dream”, with the explanation “Like a kid in a sweetshop”.

The Telegraph describes a meal at the Fat Duck as a performance, featuring its waiters and waitresses as actors. 

“The plot is 24 hours of seaside holiday and, in place of a menu, there’s a map and a magnifying glass on each table,” wrote the Telegraph.

Now that El Bulli has closed and it is less challenging to make reservations at The Fat Duck, the patrons of experimental dining are turning their heads to Copenhagen’s Alchemist, helmed by Danish modernist chef Rasmus Munk.

Bloomberg wrote that a dinner at Alchemist can stretch to six hours, as diners are served 50 courses, while presented with extrasensory experiences in a palatial dining room.

Think about a planetarium dome where jellyfish swim on its ceiling, morphing into the northern lights, and that is only one among many scenes.

 

 

 

 

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#Repost @theworlds50best 🙏 ・・・ “I want people to eat, and then think,” says Rasmus Munk. But he’s achieved even more than that, says 50 Best Academy Chair Crystyl Mo (@crystylmo), with his outrageously ambitious and original new restaurant Alchemist. When you dine inside the 57-foot diameter dome, under a projected ocean of jellyfish, mixed with plastic bags, you begin to think even before you eat. “What have we done to our oceans? What have we done to our planet? are the disruptive thoughts which arose for Crystyl Mo even before the first bite, “but at the same time, I felt magic radiating through my body, entranced in the spiritual blue light of the undersea, the ambient sound track and the entire mind bending immersive experience.” The meal is meant to provoke and to incite, but also to poke fun, to have fun, and to create conversations, both at the dining table, and for long afterwards. #Worlds50Best #Takeover #50BestAcademyChair #Copenhagen #Denmark #Food #Restaurant #Chef #Travel #Foodie

A post shared by Alchemist (@restaurantalchemist) on Nov 22, 2019 at 4:47am PST

Furthermore, Bloomberg considers Munk a provocative chef, who was likely to serve a menu full of politically and ethically charged dishes. King crab and potato buried under a pile of hay ash, served on an ashtray, was on off-putting commentary on smoking. Lamb heart tartare with cherry juice, served alongside a leaflet encourages diners to become organ donors.

Since the January reopening of Alchemist, which first opened in 2015, Munk aims to stimulate patrons’ minds and palates with a mix of theater, art and technology.

At the time of writing, Alchemist was fully booked until March 31, 2020. On a much lighter note, the Le Petit Chef experience is still available at Grand Hyatt Jakarta’s C’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant until Dec. 27.