Five months of silence under the dome
A break in the middle of a packed house
Alchemist is based on Rasmus Munk’s concept of “Holistic Cuisine.” It combines gastronomy with art, performance, technology, activism, and science in a five-hour, immersive dinner where over thirty edible impressions follow one another under a huge planetarium dome, while projections, installations, and performances change around them. It has been a consistently sold-out venue since its opening, but the chef has decided to stop the machine.
This feels like the beginning of a new chapter. We are turning our entire way of working upside down because we believe there is still so much to discover. I am taking this step to create time and space for myself and my team to continue pushing the boundaries. For us, this will be a time of transformation, where we rebuild ourselves from within,” says Rasmus Munk.
The chef says he has long observed with a certain envy that in the world of fine art, theater and music, it is self-evident that ambitious creative work requires a period of deep exploration before it is presented to an audience. Restaurants, on the other hand, are built on constant service, where development takes place alongside everyday operations. “I want to bring the same thinking to gastronomy. Instead of constantly creating between services, we give ourselves five months to delve deeper,” he adds.
Research trips, behind-the-scenes tours and a new premiere
During the break, the dining room team will explore how psychology, choreography, performance, and storytelling can rewrite traditional notions of service. Hundreds of ideas are being tested in the kitchen, research trips will take the team deep into different gastronomic cultures around the world, and the studio will experiment with the next generation of immersive and interactive technology.
The process involves renowned experts from the restaurant world as well as from completely unexpected areas. For Rasmus Munk, the most exciting thing is that the more than one hundred employees, representing more than thirty nationalities, can bring their own cultures, memories, techniques and flavors to the development. “If your goal is to create the best experience in the world, time is undoubtedly the most important ingredient,” he emphasizes.
The house will not remain completely closed even then: you can take a behind-the-scenes tour to see how ideas are created, tour the spaces, and taste the flavors and drinks of previous seasons, and special events are also planned, the details of which will be announced in the fall. When asked how the transition will be financed, the chef refers to the house's economic independence.
I am proud to have a self-sustaining business model that is enabling this change. Starting in the next incarnation of Alchemist, we will be introducing a fixed price for the entire experience, which includes all drinks. Our goal is not to make dinner at Alchemist more expensive. For the majority of our guests, the total cost of the experience will remain virtually unchanged, as over seventy percent of them already choose one of our seven drink pairings. Introducing a fixed price for the entire experience will allow us to incorporate this new creative period.
A completely redesigned menu, redesigned art installations and new screenings will await guests under the dome when it reopens. “I don’t want Alchemist to simply reopen. I want it to feel like a premiere, a new chapter, with a new way of expressing itself,” emphasizes Rasmus Munk.
The last time you can dine at the Alchemist in its current form is in November 2026.
