The first restaurant made it in London, in 2016, then Gaggan in Bangkok, the most famous. Today in Ivrea a young chef tries again. Would you order from a menu written only of emoticons?
The menu written with the emoticons looks like a game for Millennials, instead it is reality. The most famous is brought to the table in Bangkok by the multi-starred chef Gaggan Anand, an Indian transplanted to Thailand.
The Gaggan menu
The menu at Gaggan is unique, a tasting of 25 mouthfuls, represented by as many emojis. 25 are too many? To quote the chef, if Pink Floyd can make a 20 minute long song without stewing, he can play his progressive cooking for three hours (far from boring). A hop on and off as on a roller coaster, no classic sequence from delicate to main course, no wine pairing, impossible with these flavors. Edible plastic bags, 100% eggplant biscuits, versions of nigiri and tacos … chocolates that hide a unique spiciness, matcha tea which, however, is not made of matcha … The first dozen bites are eaten with your hands, it flows quickly, then the cutlery slows down and the dishes inspired by the concept of curry (its scent, flavor, smell, but never in a didactic way) finally slow down again and you get to dessert.
Difficult to understand the menu made up of emojis is more of a divertissement, also because much from Gaggan one does not order à la carte and therefore the tasting route is in any case predetermined.
Did he invent it? Actually they had thought about it before in London, at The Little Yellow Door Notting Hill. It was 2016, the year of the explosion of WhatApp and the idea was to become more engaging, making customers order via chat. It is not easy, reads the reviews, to understand if what will arrive will be a plate, a salad or a sandwich. But fun and medically disruptive.
With the usual delay, Italy also arrives the first menu made of emoji, given to Gaggan by chef Marco Rossi of La Mugnaia restaurant is in the heart of Ivrea, without false modesty. "Journey to the center of taste on a spring evening" will be a surprise dinner organized for Thursday, May 16, at 20: 30.11 bring each one told by a small Emoticon. Who will be able to guess all the dishes served?
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