Nordic wonder chef Rasmus Munk, who fronts Copenhagen’s cuisine scene with gastronomic feats such as 45-course meals, will visit South Africa as the headline chef of Littlegig 2017!
Littlegig – the world’s only curated, 24-hour, all-inclusive festival of food, wine, art, design, fashon and music – is taking place at Wiesenhof Farm in Stellenbosch and is proud to claim Danish chef Rasmus Munk, as the headline chef of the 2017 event. Known for flamboyant 45-course meals hosted at his Copenhagen restaurant, Alchemist, Munk will stage a spectacular, 12-course Chef’s Tasting dinner for 40 guests in the forest, on Saturday 28 January 2017.
In addition, Munk will participate in a Chef-and-Farmer tasting earlier that same day, where he will team up with local stars Chris Erasmus of Foliage, PJ Vadas of the Hoghouse and Jason Lilley of Jason’s Bakery, and two farmers, Angus McIntosh of Spier and Wayne Rademeyer of Buffalo Ridge.
Munk will treat Littlegig festivalgoers to his renowned and dramatic flair. A mere 25 years old, the chef is already at the forefront of Nordic cuisine. He has been described by René Redzepi of Noma restaurant, four times voted the world’s best restaurant, as one of the most talented young chefs around. His 15-seater, 45-course restaurant was named ‘Innovator of the Year’ by Nordic food bible, The White Guide Denmark 2016/7.
At the Alchemist, everything is designed to a different level. Munk pays homage to a playful cuisine that is fascinated with storytelling and sensory deception. More than any other restaurant, the Alchemist focuses on designing the eating experience and the circumstances of experiencing fine dining. And while many doomsday prophets have foreseen the end of molecular gastronomy, for Rasmus, this certainly isn’t the case…
Fine dining isn’t dead or dying.
But maybe something needed to happen with the luxury food experience. What I wanted to do with Alchemist was to develop the setting of a high-end meal. When I was working at The Fat Duck, I remember thinking that this restaurant has developed some of the most sublime dishes man has ever seen, but in the end, the food was still plated up and served in a more or less traditional restaurant-setting!
I think one of the things we need to work more with is developing the scenography of a great meal. I serve 45 dishes here for every seating. I make an effort to find the most extreme and best-quality ingredients. But I don’t believe that most people will be moved by the sensory experience of food alone. Therefore I’ve constructed a more theatre-like setting, where I can manipulate the surroundings, so serving food is thought through to fingertips. I design light, sound and smell around the different parts of the meal.
Tickets to experience one of the world’s most exciting chefs working his special blend of magic are available via www.quicket.co.za. A seat at the Saturday night Chef’s Table comes at an additional cost of R1 000 per head, and is exclusive to Littlegig festivalgoers.
