“The Doctor will see you now.”
Last weekend I went to a one-off special billed as a “an exciting walk-through dining experience and multi-course meal charting key revolutionary periods in food history.”. It was put together by Bompass and Parr, the pre-eminent purveyors of wobbly things, along with the help of certain talented peeps from food as well as from the creative fields including Alexis Gauthier, Saf restaurant (well…), Bistrotheque, Lounge Bohemia as well as Courvoisier’s ever present spirits, and their obvious bags of riches.
So the idea was to take people across the history of food, through four or five beautifully decorated, themed rooms in a five storey Georgian building in Belgravia, from the Medieval times to the Fifties to eating off the back of a very large Iguana (a prop, not a real one).
It was a little contrived, at times it was verging on the feeling as though I have just paid to experience an elaborate walk-through marketing campaign. There was Courvoisier on everything. The event culminated with a Courvoisier bar, that served Courvoisier cocktails with a 3DTV that showed looping Courvoisier adverts. Talk about brain washing eh.
Cognac aside, for the most part, the event was entertaining. However, I was expecting it to be more of an exhibition, with food trivia presented in crazily non-obvious ways, but alas, apart from the good Doctor opening promisingly by spinning about the archaic ‘science’ that humans were believed to be made from four types of liquids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm), the theatre ended just as it begun really, style suffocating all manner of substance.
For £25 it was OK (plus £5 booking fee, yikes!), though not exactly a steal. Food was decidedly a limiting factor, it was more like half a course and three snacks as opposed to four courses. The various cocktails we had on the other hand, all made with Couvoisier, were all pretty good. I came out feeling indifferent, it wasn’t exactly a satisfying meal (which I would have preferred) nor was it an all out exhibition through the times of food, instead it fell in the chasm of being a little hollow in the centre. I didn’t learn about the origin or evolution of any kind of food in particular. Instead, I came away with new found knowledge of what Courvoirsier tastes like when paired with various fruits.
Can’t knock the event for looking the part, staff were welcoming people to snap away at the meticulously created artwork, elaborate sets and creations, and all of which were mightily impressive. At the end of the day, it was fun. By the time you read this, the event would have finished, but for what it’s worth, I thought you might enjoy the snapshots…
The Doctor ‘prescribing’ a concoction to re-balance our bodily fluids (or something to that effect).
Waiting to go into the Medieval Ship.
Crossing the wobbly gang plant, to the ship. It looks like the murky waters were actually wet.
The Medieval ship, operated by Saf, a vegan restaurant, and also where we took our ‘prescription’.
I said to the good Doctor that I felt ‘laid-back’, so he me a yellow sticker which allowed me to exchange for a white wine cocktail, plus a an artichoke canape.
Next we ‘travel through time’ via a service lift to the roof top to try Alexis Gauthier’s gorgeous contribution: foie gras, a port reduction, almonds and gold leaf, shaped like a certain very recognisable chocolate.
The genius mixologists from Lounge Bohemia.
This was lush – a ‘flat’ champagne cocktail, with the fizz bursting out from the grapes! I really enjoyed this one.
On to the Fifties now, and we are having a scratch and sniff TV dinner. Nothing edible here, just olfactory tickling at work. Minty chips…
I liked this room, surely good enough to merit its own exhibition in an art gallery of some kind. It was explained to us that fifty years ago, everybody sat in front of the tv during dinner time.
And then, into the belly of a bouncy beast! Created by Andy Best & Merja Puustinen. Boing Boing.
And finally dinner time, an Iguanodon dinner in a giant Iguana, like the one constructed by Waterhouse Hawkins in 1853
Eating duck confit, puy lentils, beetroot and black champagne sauce by Bistrotheque and drinking ‘Josephine’s Tea Garden’ punch with Courvoisier, green tea, apple juice and elderflower cordial by Ben Leggett.
Finally, Bompass and Parr jelly, candied orange, iris jellies and ambergris posset. Ambergris being whale regurgitations that tasted very much like condensed milk… usually found in perfume so I’ve read, and also an aphrodisiac.
More photographs on my flickr.
Did you enjoy reading this? You can subscribe to the Newsletter. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
All text and photography on this blogpost is copyright and belongs to Kang Leong, LondonEater.com. If you repost this without my permission, bad things will happen. So please don’t do it.
Tags: belgrave square, bompass and parr, the complete history of food
Ahhh the foie gras ferrero rochers, I have to say two days later I am STILL thinking about them! But yes, otherwise agree with you… the event was a little underwhelming but I guess it was a fun night out.. and I got to catch up with my league of fatties!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kang, UK Food Blogs and Chris Titley, PostGlow. PostGlow said: From @LondonEater (Not Quite) The Complete History of Food.: “The Doctor will see you now.” Last weekend I went t… http://bit.ly/agrBny [...]
I have to agree with you – while it looked impressive and was quite fun, it was a case of style over substance, but enjoyable nonetheless!
Agree with you 100%. It was a brilliantly conceived idea in terms of visual effects and the fun factor, but a little short on substance – a bit like the Millennium Dome, really
) That said, all the drinks were excellent, I LOVED the Ferrero Rocher canapé, and the duck was outtanding for a mass-catered meal. Fabulous photos – I only had my standard 18-55ml f5.6 Canon lens with me so didn’t even attempt to take pics in the really dark rooms 
I’m pleased to read your post as, up until now, I thought I was the only one underwhelmed!
The first room, with the diagnosis, and then the subsequent entry to the galleon for the antidote – was good. Here they delivered what was promised – elements of history, food and drink combined into extravagant theatre.
Sadly, the rest of the experience didn’t live up.
The roof garden, whilst pretty, didn’t really say much about contemporary to me, and whilst I loved the foie gras “ferrero rocher” and the matching cocktail (and would have loved to have another of both, but was clearly not on the table) I didn’t get any feeling of history or explanation or indeed anything other than a sale of Gauthier/Courvoisier.
The 1950s room was nicely set up, but again, a TV showing old ads isn’t really giving much history (plus the TV was broken during our visit and the ads only set to be shown instead on a laptop just as we were leaving). The scratch and sniff card was cute but not very interesting.
And whilst it was a minute’s fun to roll around with friends inside the bouncy castle belly, it was quite a stretch to link it with what your belly would feel like if you’d eaten that TV dinner.
Then a walk down a mushroom corridor reminiscent of an A Level art project.
The main meal was disappointing too – for those seated within the iguanadon, perhaps it felt more theatrical but for the rest of us sat at the many normal tables on the floor level, there was absolutely NO sense of time or history at all. Nor was there any explanation of how the chosen dish connected to the historical period in question.
The dessert room was sweet, except that the “sugar sculptures” seemed to be painted plaster of paris moulds. I did love the dessert itself, at least.
I left feeling like I’d been thoroughly marketed at by Courvoisier, and a little too by Gauthier and Saf but with very very little theatrical extravaganza or history at all.
What Kavey said
what Meemalee said
Having gone to 2 previous Bompass & Parr (Architectural G&T and The Black Banquet) events I decided to opt out of this one as I found they never quite pull it off – the schemes are always brilliant concept-wise but tend to be poorly executed.
What they all said.
[...] found in this Flickr photoset. Rather than describe everything in detail, I’ll direct you to Kang’s post on the event as his views reflect mine [...]
I am glad to read this. I’ve always skipped the Bompass things as it seemed as though you were paying to be marketed to. And, erm, you are.
Oh well, I suppose for most of the 80s we paid to be walking billboards for brands.
You have earned so much respect from me for this post. Everywhere I have read people have just said “Oh it was wonderful!” The entire reason I went was because the blogging community hyped it up. Particular shame on you, Londonist.
In the end, I felt ripped off. Did I just pay money to be advertised too? Man, am I a sucker! The food and drinks were small tasters and the main course was a rushed gamey duck I had to eat while being squeezed into a too small table with a plant poking me in the back of the head.
I didn’t even feel educated when I left.
Laura – Yup, couldn’t agree more.
I forgot to mention that your photographs are brilliant.
[...] [londoneater][flickr] [tamarindandthyme][flickr] [dailyfinance] Gostar disso:GostoSeja o primeiro a gostar disso post. [...]