Yahoo Movies You Have To Try This Animated Dining Experience That's Like 'Ratatouille' In Real Life
If you've ever watched the movie Ratatouille, chances are you imagined a world where a little creature could slice, dice, and sauté a delicious meal for you. And while training a rat to cook doesn't exactly sound like the most hygienic activity, there is a way you can have an animated person cook for you in real life.
Le Petit Chef is an immersive theater and dining experience where the chef, who goes by the same name, is a 6-centimeter-tall animated Frenchman. He's projected onto your table, along with an environment that corresponds to each course.
The dining experience takes you on a journey. For each course, Le Petit Chef spends a few minutes in a new place—a summer garden, an icy tundra, the deep sea—entertaining you with his charming personality and unintelligible French mumblings.
For the first course, he plucks fresh vegetables out of the garden to create a burrata and heirloom tomato dish. The second course transforms the table into a fishing adventure with the bright color of coral and sounds of soft waves. Le Petit Chef dives for a fish, not for you to eat, but to lure a fresh lobster, which he pairs with shaved fennel and citrus. The third course converts the plate into a grill, and Le Petit Chef fires up some short ribs, potatoes, and vegetables. Dessert is snowy landscape that brings us ice cream snow balls.
After each two-ish minute-long animation is done, human servers from the actual restaurant bring out each course, closely resembling what Le Petit Chef just made.
The food and show are delightful. It's unlike any other immersive dining experience, and clearly people love it. It's currently available in 36 different locations worldwide. The animation is spectacular. The different animated settings are vibrant, each with a bit of a storyline. The first course, for example, the chef has a fight with a garden mole, using dynamite to drive him out of his hole. The explosion sends the tomatoes flying onto your plate.
Culinarily speaking, the food is pretty good, but that's not really why you come. You come to be entertained, and I was. None of the dishes totally blew me away—I certainly wouldn't go back solely because I loved the lobster so much.
It feels like something children would absolutely love, yet the dishes aren't exactly kid-friendly. The price tag is also a reason to not bring those under 12. It'll cost about $250 per person at The View in New York City, though that comes with a glass of wine with each course. If you're a food snob, I wouldn't recommend it. But if you're the type of person who is delighted by the accordion player at Italian restaurants or really likes to eat a full meal at movie theaters with food, then you will love this experience.
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