Charlie Sorrel
Gear

UK Restaurant to Put iPods on the Menu

I did a series of tests with Charles Spence at Oxford University three years ago, which revealed that sound can really enhance the sense of taste [...]... He has a test lab where he researches new tastes and flavors, and the restaurant has three Michelin Stars, so despite the weirdness the food actually tastes good.

FishpodThe Fat Duck Inn in Bray, England, is one of the most cutting edge restaurants in the world. DIshes include "Snail Porridge", ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and deserts containing Space Dust (remember it? It's that odd stuff that exploded on your tongue back in the 1970s).

Heston Blumenthal, the chef proprietor, uses these hi-tech methods to change perceptions of taste. And now diners will be brought iPods when ordering "Sound of the Sea", a dish of seaweed, seafood and tapioca.

I did a series of tests with Charles Spence at Oxford University three years ago, which revealed that sound can really enhance the sense of taste [...] We ate an oyster while listening to the sea and it tasted stronger and saltier than when we ate it while listening to barnyard noises, for example.

Blumenthal is a real innovator. He has a test lab where he researches new tastes and flavors, and the restaurant has three Michelin Stars, so despite the weirdness the food actually tastes good. And who can't love a man who posts out 3D spex to customers when they book a table, and then sends them to a candy store website?

Magazine site [Square Meal magazine via Technology News]