Theatrics are a crucial ingredient for chefs like Chicago's Grant Achatz.
What is it? It starts with a bowl of flaming binchotan charcoal brought to the table. “The idea is you don’t know your main course of pork belly wrapped in kombu is in fact cooking beneath the coals as you eat the accompanying prawn sashimi and whole fried prawn head stuffed with prawn mousse,” says chef Grant Achatz.
Where is it? At Alinea in Chicago – 15th in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants – where Binchotan is among 20 sensory-soaked courses. Or rather, was. Like any avant-garde artist, Achatz likes to create unique dishes only to kill them off once they achieve signature status. As he did with his edible balloon made of green apple toffee and filled with helium. “For me, the evolution is the most important part,” Achatz says.
Why do I care? Because Achatz is a ruthlessly creative and revolutionary chef, forever blurring the lines between food and art, authenticity and artifice. And because he’s coming to Melbourne for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards (on April 5) and the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 25th anniversary masterclass (April 2).
Should I be worried? Yes. Achatz says he’s obsessed with the theatrics of dining. For one of his memorable courses in days gone by, guests were not allowed to speak. For another, the room was plunged into darkness. Then the tables were cleared and the individual components of dessert strewn across the tabletop. “I want to change the sound, movement, light and the theatrical set to impact the way people experience dinner.”
Can I try it here? No, because Achatz has turned down opportunities to do a pop-up Alinea while in Melbourne. "We want to use our time to be inspired by indigenous ingredients and cooking techniques instead" he says. The innovative chef and his restaurant partner Nick Kokonas, founder of the revolutionary restaurant booking system Tock, are also responsible for Next, a Chicago restaurant that changes its theme, style and menu completely every few months. So who knows? The next theme at Next could be a fair dinkum Aussie one.
