A while back I was invited to a visual effect dinner which I was kind of sceptic about. I mean food in combination with visual. Is that really worth it? Isn't then the visual aspect taking over the quality of the food?
Will I enjoy this or would this be more like a kiddy experience? Would this be a legendary night or just something to walk in up on? Let's have a look at this place called 'Dinner in motion'.
Entering the scene
Walking into the place located in the centre of the city of Eindhoven you could already see that the visual effects were starting to take over. The entrance was all lights and this was more of an exposition.
The guys there also told us that this was also used for field trips in school. That must be pretty cool when you would have a field trip to something like this. Eindhoven is called 'light city' for a reason because the old Philips light bulb factory was located there.
This comes back in all of these lighting scenes. There were also a lot of moving lighting art things which ofcourse were kind of difficult to snap. But you get the gist of it.
Needless to say that the wall image was also a moving theme where all of the leaves were moving.
On to the start of the dinner
Ofcourse there were some appetizers for snacking and already it made me loose the idea of that the focus would be on the visuals instead of on the food. The tastes were great!
Mousse of eel, caramel and apple snacks and saffran chips are usually not on my menu I would say.
Then it was time to enter the 'dining room'. This was like a big dark room where you everyone will eat at the same table, although there was enough room between the groups. The image projected on the wall was like a big old library and the table seemed wooden.
Then I noticed the wooden table was only a projection and the projection would get an image in there one where the cutlery should be placed which was in the little box. Once the cutlery was placed in the right postion the image would turn green.
Only when everyone had their cutlery right then the dinner would proceed.
On to the first course
After the whole table had everything right in place the image in the room changed as well as the image on the table. All of a sudden the table looked like this.
Food came out that was served on a ballon shaped plate and this was a buratta with sundried tomato and basil reduction. True yummie!!
In the mean time this was the background theme on the walls. It was like having a dinner in the sky somewhere also in combination with the balloon shaped plates.
On to the jungle course!
Again the setting of the table changed and this time it was more like a jungle theme with bamboo. This went into 4D motion as there was also a jungle scent in the room, and also wind was blowing under the table.
In the moving visuals on the walls you could see a giant walking by and with that there was also a sound of heavy pounding as if something heavy was walking by. With every pound the table also was trembling and this was a really nice effect there that you also sometimes have in amusement parks.
The food was a big scallop perfectly cooked on a bed of cantheralles (a sort of mushroom) and an oyster-passionfruit vinegraitte. Awesome flavors and taste in there!
Moving on....
To a setting where this went all back to the 80's theme. The music was will all kinds of songs from that era and the visuals on the wall were also all from that time.
The projection on the table was a pacman theme which was also again moving. Loved it!
As you can see in the background of the image it seemed as if there were all kinds of flyers dropped on the table and the plate was also a projection of a spinning record playing music.
It can be so easy making stuff super cool!
The food was a rendang of young calf with coconut ice cream. Yeah a cold element in a warm dish, this was super fun! The whole dish was served with saké which fitted the dish perfectly.
The main course!
In the main course the background again changed to a more of a stylish old building again as if you were in a hallway.
Only in this dish there was an option to choose from three types of dishes and I had choosen the filet of lamb with an abricot and almond sauce on it. This was really a nice one as it had kind of a curry flavor and also the side veggies of pear and kohlrabi was a super nice enhancement.
As I often find, the main course was the least nice one of the dishes. If I was able to eat appetizers all night I totally would! Regardless, this was still damn good!
Dessert already...boooh!!
The dinner was already coming to an end and what a shame was that actually! I really was liking the taste of everything and the whole setting at the table with visual entertainment was super cool!
Dessert was pistachio mousse with raspberry icecream and crumble and it tasted delicious! And if you thought it looked nice here already then I can tell it got even way cooler when a drip of water was dropped on dry ice underneith the plate and the plate started to steam and become misty.
So many flavors and so many visuals. I really loved this whole night of food and artistic fest. My predjudice on that I didn't know what to think about it was totally wrong and the food was super lovely.
Even though I believe kids would love the setting, the flavours of the dishes were all way too strong for kids food and also the setting on a big table was not really kiddo approved.
Would I go there again? Well, I would recommend the place to everyone for sure. But I think this is a one time experience because you the element of surprise is so big. Taking away that element because you know what to expect already and that changes it. Just go with a couple friends and you have an awesome night!
So recommend-YES! Doing it again-NEHHHH.
