From dots to flavour | Schilo van Coevorden honours Kusama at Restaurant Sandberg
From dots to flavour - Schilo van Coevorden honours Kusama at Restaurant Sandberg
From dots to flavour - Schilo van Coevorden honours Kusama at Restaurant Sandberg
To mark the major retrospective exhibition of Yayoi Kusama at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Restaurant Sandberg and chef Schilo van Coevorden are presenting a five-course menu inspired by her work. Since September, during small-scale dinner evenings, Schilo has been translating Kusama’s visual language into flavour, texture and form. Not by literally imitating her art, but by exploring what her ideas about repetition, colour, material and infinity can mean in culinary terms.
The power of one as the basis for Schilo van Coevorden’s creative culinary process
What fascinates Schilo about Kusama’s work is the way her visual language came about: dots, nets, pumpkins and mirroring were examined again and again, repeated and applied in different forms. Schilo recognises something of his own creative process in this, for him too, a dish doesn’t begin with the execution, but with the idea behind it. That way of thinking runs like a common thread through his career of more than four decades in international gastronomy.
That’s precisely why Schilo didn’t want to literally reproduce Kusama’s work on the plate, but instead translate it into his own medium: repetition becomes rhythm, colour becomes a contrast in ingredients, form gives rise to a different texture. The news of Kusama’s passing inevitably gives the series, which had already been in preparation for some time, the character of a tribute. Not by copying her work, but precisely by taking her way of looking and creating as a starting point.
From ‘Infinity Nets’ to ‘Narcissus Garden’
Each course takes a specific work by Kusama as its starting point, with the title presented alongside the dish like a museum label. ‘Infinity Nets’ is interpreted with tuna, umeboshi, kinjirushi wasabi and labneh. ‘Pumpkin’ forms the starting point for kabocha squash with roasted corn, black garlic and chanterelles. For ‘Accumulation Dress’, Schilo combines halibut with golden macaroni, mussels, clams and vin jaune. ‘Dots Obsession’ becomes wild duck with sake, jus, duck sausage, gyoza, beetroot and wild berries. The dessert, featuring chocolate, iso caramel, nashi pear and genmaicha, refers to ‘Narcissus Garden’.
From dots to flavour – Schilo van Coevorden honours Kusama at Restaurant Sandberg
Art and cuisine under one roof | Restaurant Sandberg at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Restaurant Sandberg is located in the Stedelijk’s museum, set up by the team behind Restaurant Metro. Since 11 September, the Stedelijk has been presenting a major overview of Kusama’s body of work, ranging from early paintings to sculptures, mirror rooms and a new immersive installation. With this dinner series, her world continues beyond the exhibition halls as well.
Reservations can be made via Restaurant Sandberg at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The Ode to Kusama dinners are served on 11, 12, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 September. Dates in October and November will be announced as soon as possible. A five-course menu is served, with a limited number of seats available each evening.
We’ve written before about the culinary inspiration that Schilo van Coevorden regularly shares!
Website: Restaurant Sandberg
