Le Petit Chef, the globally touring 3D dining experience created by the Belgian art collective Skullmapping, has arrived in Bengaluru for its South India debut. Hosted inside Neo Kitchen at Hilton Bengaluru Embassy Manyata, the experience runs in fixed show slots and requires advance reservations, making it closer to booking a theatre performance than walking into dinner. A six-centimetre animated chef appears directly on your plate, guiding guests through a curated five-course journey that unfolds in sync with projection mapping and sound.
Our evening began with instructions to clear the table. Phones away, plates aligned to the projector, glasses raised. The moderator eased us in with French phrases and playful commentary before the six-centimetre chef sprinted onto our plates, tripping over cutlery and chasing ingredients across a projected garden. Each course followed a short animated chapter, complete with sound effects, shifting backdrops and amusing moral lessons.
The Olive Tapenade Cheese Trilogy followed a garden sequence where the tiny chef harvested greens and guarded his turnips from a mischievous mole. Burrata, feta and ricotta arrived with black olives and arugula; while trays of sunflower, mustard and beet microgreens were placed before us with small scissors. Snipping them onto the plate added peppery freshness to the creamy cheeses and made the first course interactive while the balance of salt, cream and sharp greens worked beautifully.
The seafood and leek bisque came after an underwater escapade that saw our miniature host fishing in Marseille, complete with waves and seagull sounds. The soup tasted smooth and a little briny, layered with shrimp, squid, pomfret, smoked salmon, mussels and clams. A tall sesame grissini demanded a decisive snap before dipping. The warmth of the bisque carried sweetness from the shellfish, while the leek added subtle depth.
The truffle chicken ballotine followed a woodland scene where the chef foraged for mushrooms and narrowly avoided the wrong kind. The deboned chicken leg had been rolled neatly and cooked until tender. Pommes purée tasted buttery and rich, while morel mushrooms and black truffle added aroma and savoury complexity that lingered.
Lobster tail thermidor arrived next, its flesh soft and was gently sweet beneath a parsley cream sauce that added smooth richness. By now, the tiny chef had dramatically perished and returned more than once, each mishap punctuated by laughter around the table. Dessert arrived beneath a thin sheet that was theatrically set alight at the table. Beneath it waited a coconut and jaggery creme brûlée. The caramelised top cracked cleanly under the spoon, giving way to a creamy base with deep, rounded sweetness from the jaggery.
Dinner rarely comes with plot twists, costume changes and moral lessons, but this one did. Bengaluru now has a tiny culinary celebrity and he clearly knows how to hold a room.
INR 4,599 onwards. At Nagavara.
Written by Anoushka Kundu
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