Power Of Four

Emmilyn Yeoh investigates the rising popularity of collaborative dinners and their impact on the fine dining scene.

- Emmilyn Yeoh

Culinary crossovers are nothing new in our world; from the birth of a croissant-doughnut hybrid, trademarked “cronut” by pastry extraordinaire Dominique Ansel, to the unorthodox approach of obsessive Jewish chef Ivan Orkin, who gave a New York twist to the humble ramen. A new breed of high-profile chefs leading the charge for 21st-century cuisine couldn’t be further away from the rigid hallmarks of traditional, stuffy fine dining establishments, complete with haughty waiters and crisp white tablecloths.

Today’s fine dining is interpreted into a freer concept, and of borderless creativity. Eating now is more about the experience than the plate. It’s about the emotion and connection triggered when your food goes from farm to kitchen, grill to plate, and fork to mouth; the story of how your plates are made, where the ingredients are foraged, and together, the story that it tells. It’s stripped down to the basics, to how potatoes or carrots are grown. “I’m serving a conversation,” says Dominique Crenn, the first female chef to receive three Michelin stars in the US.