Stimulating the Senses with Tabl — Her Favourite Food & Travel

Dec 27

Dec 27 Stimulating the Senses with Tabl

There is always something exciting and unique happening in London and Tabl is definitely one of those things. The concept matches chefs, venues, and diners for one off dinners and supper clubs or a series of events.

From their list of events, I attended Stimulating the Senses, which was as much psychological experiment as it was a dining event. It was hosted by Oxford fellow and experimental psychologist Charles Spence and Chef Jesse Dunford-Wood at Parlour in Kensal Green.

We were greeted by a layered cocktail that changed flavours as you drank. And the first thing we did to kick off the evening was taste some paper and analysis our reaction to the taste! In fact, the psychologist said I had a great reaction to it - he explained that my reaction was evidence of my having thousands more taste buds than those who tasted nothing and would contribute to me disliking bitter things (such as coffee and brussel sprouts). We also participated it other food and taste related experiments such as holding our nose and trying to guess a drink based on the sound of it being poured.

One of the fun elements of the evening was seeing how different utensils and plate or glass shapes affected our experiences of the food. In fact it is Charles Spence’s main premise that our surroundings and experiences influence our tastes. We had to feed our table mates from giant spoons and be fed by others. We weren’t given a menu and didn’t know how many courses there would be so we had to pace ourselves through the dinner.

Throughout the night the theme was very much communal dining. We shared dishes, passed plates, and reached over our neighbours more times than I can count and this is certainly the kind of thing you can expect to come across time and again if you are looking at events through Tabl.

One highlight of the evening was when we tried this miracle berry pill, which makes everything taste so incredibly sweet. I have to admit the pill didn’t do much for me…we were only given half a pill and we did learn I’m a super taster. It took some of the sour edge off but it was definitely still sour. However, for my husband it made the lemon juice so sweet and candy-like that he didn’t actually like it! It was over powering with the sweet taste. And this is one experiment you can even replicate at home.

Finally, we ended on quite the show for dessert. They handed out headphones, spread some foil along the length of the table and then went to down spreading sauces and desserts all around - meanwhile the headphones were playing a magical soundtrack of Willy Wonka and other candy themed songs. Half of us were given paintbrushes to eat with which I have to say one of the weirdest utensils I’ve used for eating!

All in all it was a fun night with lots of laughter and good food. The downside to a service like Tabl is that although I had tons of fun - they aren’t running this dinner again in the new future, however there are and will be other unique, interesting dinners that compare to nothing else you’ve experienced. It’s definitely the way to find something quirky and different (and would be a great non-traditional dinner date)!