Multi Sensory Dining Around The World

Whether it is dining in complete darkness or enjoying dinner while immersed in a futuristic music and lights show, chefs and restaurateurs are not only redefining the eating-out experience, they are breaking the mold altogether. A trend that has been growing for the past decade is the idea of multisensory dining. It’s no longer enough to see the food and taste the food; we need to invite the rest of our senses to dinner too. These avant-garde dining experiences showcase the harmony between cutting-edge science and exacting cooking called ‘neurogastronomy’. Do you taste a meal differently when you can smell the salty air of the ocean? Does dessert taste better when accompanied by a symphony of music?It’s where ultra-fine dining and mad scientist meet, and the results are sensational. While many restaurants interpret this idea differently, the one thing you can count on is an appetizing adventure for the senses.

5. Tickets Bar, Barcelona.

This immensely popular tapas restaurant focuses on sight and taste to treat and sometimes trick their patrons. The Adria brothers Ferran and Albert manipulate food through molecular gastronomy with such attentive craftsmanship, each playful plate is always more than it seems. Tickets Bar is the perfect melding of food science and fun and at a price everyone can sink their teeth into.

Visit their website by clicking here | @BarTickets

4. The Fat Duck, Berkshire.

This whimsical, multi-award winning restaurant has recently reopened after a short hiatus. Chef Heston Blumenthal treats guests to a deluxe 14-course tasting menu alive with techy touches. There are the nitrogen poached aperitifs and smoky, sense-testing third course called, jelly of quail, crayfish cream, chicken liver parfait, pea puree, oak moss and truffle toast. Now, that’s a mouthful. Probably the most sense-satisfying course is the aptly named, ‘Sound of the Sea’. The delectable seafood course is served in a conch shell that plays soothing seascape sounds that are said to elevate the diners taste. It’s these spirited additions that give The Fat Duck a sense of fun that has fun with the senses. 'Sound of the Sea' at the Fat Duck

Visit their website by clicking here

3. Dans le Noir, London, Paris, Moscow.

‘Blind dining’ has been a trend for over a decade and now over a dozen restaurants around the globe offer up this unique gastronomique experience. While there have been mixed reviews of the culinary quality at Dans le Noir it is, for the most part, an exceptional experience. Guests are guided to their seats in complete darkness and treated to a gourmet-tasting menu. Without the sense of sight, taste buds can go into overdrive, making flavours seem different or more intense. Guest’s not only taste differently but they must maneuver drinking and eating without the help of their eyes. This sometimes difficult and clumsy encounter raises awareness for what everyday is like for those with visual impairment adding yet another layer to the dark experience. Dark dining, now that’s food for thought. Dans le Noir with the lights on

Visit their website by clicking here | @DansLeNoirLDN

2. Sublimotion, Ibiza, Spain.

Not for the faint of heart or the budget conscious, this far-out tasting menu runs about £1000 a head. Only seating twelve guests at a time around a communal table, Sublimotion gives every diner first row seats to an electronic wonderland fueled by Spanish chef Paco Roncero’s wild imagination. From wall to wall projections bursting with colour and sound to bloody Marys that stir themselves this is one meal that is borderline bizarre, and we love it. Dining room at Sublimotion

Visit their website by clicking here | @sublimotionibz

1. Ultraviolet, Shanghai.

There is truly nowhere on earth quite like Ultraviolet. Guests are picked up and driven to the restaurant’s secret warehouse location along the Shanghai’s industrial riverfront. The industrial building could hold upwards of 100 people at a time, it only seats ten. The mastermind behind this heavy-metal science experience is French chef Paul Pairtet and he describes it as a “psycho-taste” experience. The 20-course tasting menu is meticulously synchronized with an elaborate unfolding of sights, smells and sounds thanks to the 56 speakers, seven speakers and ten computer screens. Changing sceneries are projected on the floor to ceiling screens while a dry scent diffusion system disperses certain aromas to evoke different memories and emotions. Diners experience sight, touch, sound, smell and of course taste, differently, making each tantalizing course a unique sensory journey. Ultraviolet is truly the most mind-blowing, and satisfying restaurant on the planet.

Visit their website by clicking here | Facebook