Dinners these days are all about experience… and a little entertainment never fails to lighten the mood. But what about a 3D immersive five-course dinner where projections play out across your table as you’re “taught” to cook by a six-inch tall chef? While it sounds rather fantastical, the immersive dinner experience, Le Petit Chef, is a memorable, technologically fascinating, family-friendly and delicious event, now available at the JW Marriott Washington DC.
Guests are seated at tables of four, with carefully positioned 4K projectors hung above each. The show plays out entirely on the table, while sounds and scents envelop your other senses. It opens with the tiny chef exploring fruits and vegetables in their simplest forms, and how cultures throughout time adapted to and adopted the use of each. Did you know tomatoes were once believed to be poisonous because of its membership in the nightshade family?
For the next course, guests are guided through an art-and-music-filled sequence while the tiny chef highlights the importance of plating food artfully, with a side of art history. This is definitely a highlight of the Instagrammable aspects, because of its colorful animations and ever changing projections accompanied by hilarious quips by the chef.
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Developers of the immersive experience, Skullmapping and TableMation Studios, recommend videoing the animations using the 0.5x lens on your camera, so more of the table can be captured in an image.
The show “is the result of months of preparation, as it takes the artists of Skullmapping 24 hours to create every five seconds of animation,” according to the press release.
The dinner and projections are about two hours long, so this series certainly took some work.
For the next two courses, the miniscule chef further explores the tradition of cooking, and how recipes and techniques are passed through generations, as well as the evolution of the foods we eat.
The meal concludes with guests putting their newfound knowledge to use by decorating a small cake with fresh meringue, berries and chocolates, with the option for your creation to be torched for that tasty, gooey meringue consistency.
“JW Marriott Washington, DC is excited to bring this unique dining experience, which is unlike any other, to the city,” says general manager Tushaar Agrawal. “One of JW Marriott’s brand pillars is to deliver distinctive, innovative, and nourishing culinary experiences. We want to offer guests this captivating, narrative show that will make diners look at their meals in an entirely different way.”
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For a truly unique experience that is sure to entertain the whole family, check out the Le Petit Chef immersive dinner.
The price is $179 per person, excluding tax and gratuity, and an optional beer pairing for $20 or or wine pairing for $30 per person. Reservations are required and can be made here.
JW Marriott Washington, DC is located at 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Photography by: Lindsay Garbacik
