Trying the food of 5 chefs with 8 Michelin stars: The 5 – 360° Dining Experience (11. November 2021)
When I saw ‘The 5’, I was was super intrigued since when do you get to try 8 Michelin stars in one sitting. Well, that was the evening. I booked the ticket in May and 6 months later, it was finally time. An evening including wine pairing accounts for CHF 298.00 which is quite a price! In any case, the evening started with “bread and spread” which was nice and gives you a first impression on how the evening looked event-wise.
The starter was “Oona Caviar N. 103, salsify cream, tapioka” which was nice and comforting to start.
The first course was “pickled trout, celery, juniper crunch, onion pickles” which was actually surprisingly good. I mean, of course, you would expect good dishes given the caliber of chefs present but given the fact that they had to prepare the dish for more than 200 people didn’t let me expect much of it. In any case, it was a great combination of sweetness, saltiness, and different textures.
Since the whole thing was taking place in a dome, the chefs would always be played on a video sequence on the dome. The first chef was Rebecca Clopath who explained what her course, blue, actually was.
And since the course was called blue, there would be “blue animations” in the dome …
… including swimming people which was a bit disturbing to be honest. I mean, it’s okay to have movement while you’re eating but given that they were just wearing kind of the tight bathing suit as a guy, it’s a bit too much in your face when they are just there while you’re eating
Second in line was the “scallop, yellow plum, carrot, vanilla, chili, Nespresso coffee oil” which was surprisingly good. For me, the best scallop I ever had was the one in the O Paparico back in 2014 and I haven’t encountered a better one since. But this one was actually very good in terms of texture and the combination with the vanilla and the chili really added to the scallop making it a tasty dish.
The dish was prepared by Heiko Nieder who is a 2-star chef at ‘The Restaurant’ in Zurich under the theme ‘yellow’ and I must say that it was actually nice to taste something of Heiko Nieder again and made me realize that I should go back to ‘The Restaurant’ which I had visited in 2011.
The third course was “grilled lettuce, sea buckthorn, mustard vinaigrette, parsley” which was tasting green. I mean, of course it wasn’t actually tasting green but it was. Interesting though in terms of flavor combination and texture.
The course was prepared by Mitja Birlo who has a 2-star restaurant in the Hotel 7132 which I only saw but hadn’t visited. But also the ‘Red’ which is the breakfast restaurant right there was nice.
Again, it was time for some ‘green inspiration’ which was – overall nice – and definitely less disturbing than the color blue!
The fourth course was “fried roebuck, bee pollen, grilled mushrooms, forest berries” and while it looked okay, it actually tasted great! The roebuck was extremely tender and almost medium rare which was great in terms of texture and flavor but surprising in thus far that not everyone likes this kind of cooking level.
It was prepared under the label ‘red’ by by Ana Roš who runs the Hiša Franko and is listed among the Top 50 of the world and it made me think of doing a trip to Slovenia to enjoy try that restaurant!
The last course was a “variation of blackcurrant with roasted quinoa” and it was super interesting although the vegan alternative was much better. The dish was too intense on blackcurrant making it only semi-enjoyable to be honest. The roasted quinoa definitely added to the whole thing but didn’t counter the intensity of the blackcurrant.
It was prepared by Rolf Fliegauf who runs the Ecco in St. Moritz and Ascona and has been on my to do list for quite a while. However, with this particular dish I wasn’t entirely persuaded.
The final round, ‘Pink’, had some enlightening animations with the last course.
To finalize the evening, there were some petit fours, i.e. “white chocolate, tonka bean, vegan coco mango” which were nice to finish off the dinner.
What I liked a lot was the “artichoke liquor” which was served as a digestivo! Somehow sweet, somehow bitter, bitter-sweet!
All in all, The 5 – 360° Dining Experience is an interesting event which offers you a lot of nice dishes in a short time at a high level of quality. I do admit, I’m positively surprised to what degree of quality they are actually preparing their dishes since it’s rather unique to get that good quality for so many people at the same time. However, the whole thing is rather expensive for what you get (after all), so I’d recommend you to go and visit one of the chefs’ restaurants and try that one! Food-wise the better experience, I’d say!
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Contact Details:
The 5 – 360° Dining Experience
The5 Dome
Gerold Areal
Geroldstrasse 15a
8005 Zürich (CH)
E-Mail: welcome@the5.ch
Homepage: http://www.the5.ch
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
