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Under the Dome

The visual and culinary arts collide inside this restaurant under a planetarium dome in Denmark

Joanna Fantozzi, Senior Editor

October 21, 2019

1 Min Read
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In one restaurant in Denmark you can, throughout your meal, see the colorful spectacle of Aurora Borealis above your table, dine among a school of jellyfish, and watch cherry blossoms gently fall from trees all around you. The Alchemist — a restaurant in Copenhagen that reopened with a new artistic design direction from British architects, Duncalf Ltd. — has six rooms that blend culinary with visual art media.

In the main dining room of the 22,000-square foot restaurant, guests dine under a 57-foot planetarium dome that surrounds the dining room in a 360-degree visual enhancement that projects 12 different 12 scenes onto the dome, so that throughout their experience, guests can be transported to Japan’s cherry blossom trees or under the ocean with a sea of jellyfish.

Alchemist_Dome_(1).jpg

The Alchemist’s extensive 50-course menu is just as artistically unique as its physical design, as guests travel from room to room to taste each course. Created by chef Rasmus Munk, the full tasting menu costs a whopping 1,500 DKK ($223.95 USD) and includes such dishes as edible paper, pine and lemon verbena-scented snowflakes, a tomato water snowball, and a cow’s Achilles tendon.

One of the dishes — Plastic Fantastic — is a nod to The Alchemist’s environmental bent, and comments on the bits of plastic that can be seen floating among the jellyfish projected on the dome.   

“I want Alchemist to comment on the present and create something that can resound further than the restaurant industry,” Munk said. “I want people to eat — and then think.”    

Contact Joanna Fantozzi at [email protected] 

Follow her on Twitter: @joannafantozzi

About the Author

Joanna Fantozzi

Senior Editor

Joanna Fantozzi is a Senior Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. She has more than seven years of experience writing about the restaurant and hospitality industry. Her editorial coverage ranges from profiles of independent restaurants around the country to breaking news and insights into some of the biggest brands in food and beverage, including Starbucks, Domino’s, and Papa John’s.  

Joanna holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and creative writing from The College of New Jersey and a master’s degree in arts and culture journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Prior to joining Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group in 2018, she was a freelance food, culture, and lifestyle writer, and has previously held editorial positions at Insider (formerly known as Business Insider) and The Daily Meal. Joanna’s work can also be found in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, The New York Daily News, and Parents Magazine. 

Her areas of expertise include restaurant industry news, restaurant operator solutions and innovations, and political/cultural issues.

Joanna Fantozzi has been a moderator and event facilitator at both Informa’s MUFSO and Restaurants Rise industry events. 

Joanna Fantozzi’s experience:

Senior Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (August 2021-present)

Associate Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (July 2019-August 2021)

Assistant Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Oct. 2018-July 2019)

Freelance Food & Lifestyle Reporter (Feb. 2018-Oct. 2018)

Food & Lifestyle Reporter, Insider (June 2017-Feb. 2018)

News Editor, The Daily Meal (Jan. 2014- June 2017)

Staff Reporter, Straus News (Jan. 2013-Dec. 2013)

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