Kitchen Theory's Gastrophysics Chef's Table

Last year, I won a competition designing a speculative dining menu in the year 2050, and the prize was a dinner at the Gastrophysics Chef’s Table, put on by a group called Kitchen Theory.

Kitchen Theory specializes in designing culturally intriguing and scientifically driven culinary experiences for brands and organizations - I saw a menu they designed for Audi customers centered around Audi brand values like innovation and technology - and they put on this Gastrophysics Chef’s Table just one weekend every month. What does “gastrophysics” mean? They say, “Gastrophysics is the combination of gastronomy and psychophysics – gastronomy being the knowledge and understanding of all that relates to man as he eats, and psychophysics being the branch of psychology that deals with the relations between physical stimuli and mental phenomena.” So they explore the interactions between taste and touch, sight, sound, and smell.

Because it’s offered just a few days a month, I put off my dinner for several months, looking for a time to make the trip up to London from Valencia. But finally I was able to go at the end of May!

To get there, you take the Northern Underground line to the last stop, High Barnet. My friend and I left the train station to views of rolling hills and climbed up a ramp through a densely wooded area to exit. This didn’t feel like London anymore!

After walking down the town’s main street and around some suburban residential streets, we came upon this cool industrial complex. Kitchen Theory is found on that top floor in the building on the left!

After going to the top in a similarly industrial elevator, we arrived at the reception area. Here we were greeted by a welcome drink. Everyone got a glass of sparkling wine, but I requested non-alcoholic drinks and I got a rose and elderflower sparkling drink. It was really good! A sign of good things to come.

There were about 10 of us altogether, and in pairs, we first watched a couple videos introducing us to Gastrophysics table, and then we went upstairs to a loft space where we did some experiments!

***

***Spoiler Alert*** I’d recommend not reading any further if you have any interest in attending one of these dinners at some point. It’s more fun when you have no idea what to expect!

***

We tasted jelly beans with our noses plugged up, we whiffed artificial flavors to guess what they were, we tasted these spherified juices but dyed black to remove that sensory signal, and tried to guess what they were. I scored a 0 on all tests - I’m quite the opposite of a “supertaster!”

Then we went back downstairs…

…and got (another) welcome cocktail.

This one had grapefruit, lime, and tequila…

…I started out with one without tequila, and then switched to one with.

We got to chat with our fellow diners and admire the view during this time.

Our first course was an amuse bouche - reflecting on how words and naming are related to taste and texture. One of these was called Kiki, and one was Bouba. The one on the left was a blue corn tostada with a nicely acidic diced octopus on top, while the one on the right was a donut with braised ox cheek inside. Our task was to think, which one would you name Kiki, and which one Bouba?

Then the shades were lowered, and candles lit.

They started to plate the next dish right on the table! This was some corn sauce being spread around…

With an Aztec(?) pattern projected on top.

This dish had a corn sponge cake with micro greens, corn, and a wafer on top. They said that research showed that eating with our hands heightens the flavor sensation. I like corn and Mexican food in general, so I quite enjoyed this - whether I enjoyed it more because I ate with my hands I’m not sure!

Our next dish was called “Ryujin’s Servant.” Here the projection put is in the underwater mood, and to match I had a matcha kombucha steeped with kombu. The others got white wine. I think I won with my non-alcoholic pairing!

For this course, we focused on how listening to certain sounds amplify taste sensations. They told us about research where eating stale potato chips but listening to sharp sounds made you feel like you were eating crispy potato chips!

So in this course, we listened to percussion sounds…to enhance the crunchy texture of the jellyfish, wrapped around the tweezers. The part in the middle was a cucumber and pickle “nukezuke.”

Next, we learned about the order of tasting things, for example, orange juice after brushing your teeth doesn’t taste any good. So first, we got a dot of a very spicy very sour yuzu paste. Then a dot of a beurre noisette (hazelnut butter) that was super luscious. We taste the first dot, then the second one to mellow it out…

…and then finally a thin paper of seaweed.

This was followed by perhaps the tastiest dish of the evening: squid ink risotto with more of that delicious hazelnut butter, topped with a black bean tempeh cube spray painted in gold.

The next course was called Tsumikasa, and it was about local foraging. Here, they pointed out that we didn’t get forks all evening, in order for us to taste differently and be more conscious when we were eating.

For this course, they set out a bucket of dry ice from which an earthly smell came out, matching the forest projection. My non-alcoholic pairing for this course was a hibiscus kombucha.

The dish consisted of fried shallot, truffle “pebbles,” and a Jersey Royal potato, the “local” element.

Just to the side of the dining table was the kitchen, helmed by Chef Jozef Youssef and his team of assistants - a couple of which were from Spain!

Our last savory course was called “Jastrow’s Bite,” Jastrow being the guy who made that duck vs. rabbit illustration (seen in the orange sauce pattern below. A Looney Tunes-like projection flooded the table. Like the illustration, this course was part duck, part rabbit. The cube on the right was a parcel of shredded duck and rabbit (super tasty), seared duck and rabbit below, and to the left, a paté of one or the other (forgot which one was which - we might have all gotten a different piece?), coated by a greenish butter covering.

Our first dessert was “shattered glass.” The light bulbs below were lit…

…we were served rhubarb ice cream with white chocolate shavings…

…then they smashed the glass of the light bulbs…

…and served a shard of the sugar glass with the dessert.

Then came a dessert centered around honey. To the left was a torrija (the Spanish name for french toast), nicely caramelized and crunchy! To the right was a beehive hiding a whipped cream of vanilla and orange blossom (if I remember correctly…).

This was served with a honey kombucha.

Next we did some sensory explorations! This was a Bailey’s Irish Creme, served in two different glasses. One was small with a narrow mouth, while the other was a big tumbler with cut sides and a wide mouth. For me, the Bailey’s in the smaller cup smelled and tasted more sharp and alcoholic, while the one in the big glass had a “rounder,” sweeter flavor. My dining partner thought otherwise, though!

We were also given this black cube with smooth, velvet, and velcro sides. We were told to feel and taste at the same time, and see if there was any difference in taste. For me, there wasn’t really much difference.