A dinner that’s also a play at Michelin-starred Nouri, where chef Ivan Brehm turns actor as you eat

Chefs are always building dishes around their memories, of course, but the task of communicating the backstory to the diner usually falls either on the server or on the menu, and in both cases, the spiel must be brief. Here, the vignettes unfold over a luxurious three hours.

What was the initial reaction when Brehm announced he was doing a play about his life? “Everybody was a bit shocked, but also they know we’re a bit crazy,” he smiled. “We like this multi-modal thing – collaboration with artists, designers. Initially, we were talking about doing scripts about other things, and it was Huzir’s pitch to do a story based on my life. I had shared some things with him in the past, but I never, for a second, imagined that we’re going to do a play about me.”