This Michelin-Starred Restaurant in Hong Kong Is Serving Art You Can Eat
Paint your plate with black garlic, brown truffles and sweet potato puree.
Next week marks the beginning of Art Basel Hong Kong, one of the biggest art fairs in Asia. Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation will all be on display, in an event designed to showcase the work of thousands of artists from all around the world. But the work of one man in particular appears to be in particularly good taste (geddit?). Uwe Opocensky, the German chef at the Michelin-starred Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, has put together a menu that blurs the line between food and art.
The aptly named Art Menu at the Mandarin Grill + Bar begins with an entree inspired by the most iconic artwork of Englishman Damien Hirst. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living features a 14-foot shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde. Opocensky's version consists of a mackerel floating in horseradish-flavoured cucumber jelly.
The main course is modelled after a box of paints, with different coloured purees including mashed sweet potato, brown truffles, black garlic paste and red peppers, as well as a slice of beef covered in edible flowers. And for dessert, an ice cream filled chocolate mountain on a bed of popping candy, inspired by the mountaineering photography of Chinese artist Xu Zhen.
As with many things in the world of high art, Oponcensky's elaborate dinner doesn't come cheap: $HK1888 ($AU320) a head. Pretty pricey, especially when you won't have anything to show for it at the end of the night. "What we make has a very short life span," Opocensky said to Quartz. "It is very exciting though. I cannot draw to save my life, but I can put things on a plate, and I love that we can be associated with art as a movement"
Via Quartz.
- The Ten Best Restaurants in Auckland
- Twelve Incredible Australian Islands for When You Want to Get Off the Mainland
- The Best Places to Go Glamping in New Zealand
- The Most Romantic Places to Stay in Bali When Proposals and Honeymoons Come Calling
- Our Guide to the Best Glamping Sites Around Australia
- Ten Films and TV Shows You Need to Stream This Month