The Dialectics of Space dinner combines the use of the space with menu items in order to create an overall sensory experience that is able to permeate participants during a multi-course gastronomical happening.
Menu #2
- Woven crispy enoki mushrooms on top of a coconut avocado mousse.
- Savory banana cake with persimmon and onion chutney, topped with toasted walnut pieces.
- Fried maki with pickles three ways.
- Liquid coconut eggs inside of pink candied bird's nests.
- Moonshine with ginger-slime and mint infused olive oil. (digestif)
* All courses were made vegan and gluten free to meet the dietary restrictions of the participants.
The 'Dialectics of Space' dining room is a modified greenhouse structure constructed out of repurposed wood and construction materials, it has a dining table covered with living moss as well as specific audio and lighting elements.
PARTICIPANT'S REFLECTIONS:
Participants are asked to reflect on their dining experience and encouraged to express how good, bad or indifferent they felt about it and what made them feel like that:
Participant #2: "The first thing that impressed me was the moss as a tablecloth, that was too nice. Of course the space where the dinner was taking place was also surprising, but mostly giving a feeling of privacy and suspense, suspense for what was about to come (food!).Explicitly about the food, it was amazing. The expectation for each plate made us enjoy each flavour with the 100% of our senses, and as it was small, you took it carefully to not miss any important detail of its taste. And everything was great, no flavour out of place, enjoyable and delicious.
Of course the company makes a dinner worse or better, and in this case we had good company, good conversations and I believe all was because of the space and the number of diners that were present. Talking about the experience of the food with the people eating with you, make the feeling even stronger.
So, if you want to know what did I like the most, probably was the first taste, the avocado and coconut cream with that mushroom; and what I liked desert least, maybe because it was hard to chew, and I'm also not so fan of sweet, anyway."
Participant #3: "Is it a greenhouse or a forest? Is it inside or outside, inside out or outside in? There is blasts of flavour in my mouth, soft moss table under my hands and I am sharing this dim-lit intimate experience with some new people. In this rather dream-like presence memories and the sensory impulses combine the outside in and inside out."
Participant #5: "I entered the space inside the space inside the space, like went inside of a Russian matryoshka. Sense of time was twisted in a little half-transparent cabin, where seven random participants gathered around the table covered with moss to have an unpredictable dinner under the dim red light. Shall we or can we talk? Can we laugh? Would it be too much of disturbance while a deep forest odour and sound absorbing into our bodies? Three miniature courses and dessert accompanied with digestive ginger shot were served on tiny wooden individual tray-plates one after another: avocado paste with crispy enoki to name the first and my favourite one. In an hour or two, I'm actually not sure at all about time we spent in the space, we abandoned it. All that stayed behind looked apocalyptically surreal. Like not from this side of the wall."
Participant #7: "About the food: I’m not an expert, but for my tongue almost all was really really amazing, the most surprising stuff was the combination of the banana with the onion, I never tried that before and it was good! the food that I enjoyed the most was the rice things with broccoli and asparagus, the combination for me was simple but perfect, I didn't like the one with kimchi but that’s because I don’t like kimchi, so it’s like a personal stuff. Also the final shot was weird for me, I’m not used to taste that kind of flavours. But all the other stuff was very nice!
About the presentation: i liked the way you presented the dishes, verbal and material, also the sounds and the table made a very nice environment, I really felt comfortable there."
Of course the company makes a dinner worse or better, and in this case we had good company, good conversations and I believe all was because of the space and the number of diners that were present. Talking about the experience of the food with the people eating with you, make the feeling even stronger.
So, if you want to know what did I like the most, probably was the first taste, the avocado and coconut cream with that mushroom; and what I liked desert least, maybe because it was hard to chew, and I'm also not so fan of sweet, anyway."
Participant #3: "Is it a greenhouse or a forest? Is it inside or outside, inside out or outside in? There is blasts of flavour in my mouth, soft moss table under my hands and I am sharing this dim-lit intimate experience with some new people. In this rather dream-like presence memories and the sensory impulses combine the outside in and inside out."
Participant #5: "I entered the space inside the space inside the space, like went inside of a Russian matryoshka. Sense of time was twisted in a little half-transparent cabin, where seven random participants gathered around the table covered with moss to have an unpredictable dinner under the dim red light. Shall we or can we talk? Can we laugh? Would it be too much of disturbance while a deep forest odour and sound absorbing into our bodies? Three miniature courses and dessert accompanied with digestive ginger shot were served on tiny wooden individual tray-plates one after another: avocado paste with crispy enoki to name the first and my favourite one. In an hour or two, I'm actually not sure at all about time we spent in the space, we abandoned it. All that stayed behind looked apocalyptically surreal. Like not from this side of the wall."
Participant #7: "About the food: I’m not an expert, but for my tongue almost all was really really amazing, the most surprising stuff was the combination of the banana with the onion, I never tried that before and it was good! the food that I enjoyed the most was the rice things with broccoli and asparagus, the combination for me was simple but perfect, I didn't like the one with kimchi but that’s because I don’t like kimchi, so it’s like a personal stuff. Also the final shot was weird for me, I’m not used to taste that kind of flavours. But all the other stuff was very nice!
About the presentation: i liked the way you presented the dishes, verbal and material, also the sounds and the table made a very nice environment, I really felt comfortable there."