Son et lumière et dîner et mystère

Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet

There’s concept dining and then there’s UltraViolet. Chef Paul Pairet’s groundbreaking, total immersion gastronomic adventure was 15 years in the planning, 3 years in the building, and since its launch in May represents the lodestar for experiential event dining, not only in Asia, but the world over. A few statistics – 1 table, 10 diners, 10 computer screens, 20 courses, 25 staff, 7 high definition projectors, 56 speakers, 4 aroma diffusers, 4274 pieces of tableware.... you get the picture?

And if you don’t, you soon will, as the ever-changing visuals swirl all over the walls and table of the ‘secret’ dining salon to which you are driven after a rendezvous at 6.30pm sharp.

From the moment you and your 9 intrepid fellow gastronauts enter the dining ‘theatre’, what’s on the menu is an all out, rollercoaster assault on the senses, each course accompanied by a perfectly choreographed series of specific images, sounds, smells and of course, tastes.

For example, ‘Ostie’, an apple juice and wasabi wafer sorbet is paired with images of lit candles and swinging bells, the air custom-fragranced with ‘Church’ and AC/DC thrashing out ‘Hell’s Bells’; while ‘Truffle Burnt Soup Bread’ blends burnt bread, hazelnut butter, meunier sauce, truffles and cigar smoke to a visual of misty woods, a scent entitled ‘Forest’, Francis Coppola Reserve Chardonnay 2009 and Gonzales’ solo piano Carnivalse. And you thought you were just going out to dinner... Welcome to the Brave New World.