Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen is the creation of famous Danish chef Rasmus Munk. Like many similarly exclusive Michelin-star worthy dining experiences, there’s a 10,000-person waiting list for a spot at Alchemist and the meal itself will run you $800 per person for 40+ inventive courses. What’s different about this experience is just how committed he is to making food into art … on every level. When asked about his inspiration for a long profile piece written by Rebecca Mead and featured in The New Yorker this month, Munk explains:
“If contemporary visual artists and theatre directors are allowed to make their patrons uncomfortable, why aren’t chefs? People talk about chefs being artists, but it’s always within this box of ‘pleasure,’ and ‘you need to be nice,’ there also needs to be a part of disgust in art, and something that challenges you … we’re on the path where we can maybe show that food can be equal to art.”
At one point in the meal, they turn off the lights so that diners can be served “a coconut-and-honeydew concoction that glowed in the dark, courtesy of a powdered extract from bioluminescent jellyfish.” Beyond creating wonder, it’s this discomfort that Munk leans into which makes Alchemist a really unique, and perhaps hard to stomach, dining experience. In one course, for example, there’s a fake gelatinous tongue that you’re encouraged to “french kiss” instead of bite into when it’s served. Some of the more cringe-inducing ingredients that show up in his dishes include deer blood, lamb brains and codfish eyes.
In a telling line from the article that just as well could serve as a useful warning or irresistible review of the experience, depending on your perspective, Mead writes “on only three or four occasions has a diner walked out in disgust.” After reading about this experience, assuming money was no barrier, would you be among those walking out in disgust or would you stay for the experience?
