|
HOME PAGE |
LUXURY NOW |
WINDOW SHOPPING |
BRAND GALLERY |
CITY GUIDE |
LUXURY TRAVELER |
ARTS PORTFOLIO |
The sky is the limit for entrepreneur David Ghysels, who elevates the art of fine dining to new levels, sending thrill-seeking gourmands and world-class chefs skyward for a meal to remember.
David Ghysels’s definition of luxury:
To make my dreams happen
If Luxury Were…
An object:
One of the four elements.
A moment:
In the evening, when I go home and take my wife in my arms.
A person:
My daughter.
A place:
My family home.
There’s nothing like al-fresco dining, but imagine feasting 50 meters above the ground, or taking in a twilight serenade while suspended in the air? Dinner in the Sky fuses the gourmet trend of the chef’s table with the excitement of an airborne dining room.
The brainchild of David Ghysels, co-founder of Brussels-based Events In The Sky, and his team, what began as a unique marketing strategy more than three years ago is now creating a major buzz among the stars of haute gastronomy. As Ghysels recalls, “Our client, a gastronomy association named Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe, asked how we could communicate the fact that they were the top in gastronomy, so we brainstormed for an idea and finally someone within the company suggested a suspended dinner.” After more than two years in development, Dinner in The Sky made its debut lift off in 2006 and has provided a celestial platform for many of the world’s top chefs, from France’s Pierre Gagnaire to Spain’s Paco Roncero against some of the world’s most dramatic backdrops, such as the Notre-Dame d’Amiens Cathedral in France. “Each event is unique, but the one we organized with Alain Passard outside the cathedral was the most impressive for me, because it was the first dinner in France, with a three-star Michelin chef, in front of the Notre-Dame d’Amiens. It was amazing that we got the authorization to do it, and the weather conditions were incredible because there was a red alert for thunderstorms until 11 o’clock, and I remember driving along the highway with liters and liters of water pouring down on the highway, but during the event the clouds opened up and the sky was blue.” He also recounts a celestial moment in Helsinki: “It was the night of a fireworks event. It was amazing because above were the fireworks, but below the table was a lake where the inhabitants of Helsinki go with their boats, and each boat had a candle, so you didn’t know where you were because you were in the middle of the stars, both above and below – it was amazing.”
Raised by a 120-ton crane, the 9x5 meter platform is lifted off the ground, elevating the privileged party’s high-rise table from its terrene environment to beyond the treetops in under one minute. In accordance with the most rigorous safety procedures, guests are strapped into one of the 22 seats before enjoying the meal of a lifetime, while their chef takes to the stage in a makeshift kitchen within the center of the table arrangement. Although the culinary prep space is modest, both in terms of facilities and proportions when compared to the spacious kitchens of these culinary stars, it has become the ultimate challenge for those on the Michelin list. “I remember a conversation with Alain Passard just after an event, I told him ‘It must be very limited in comparison to what you have in your own kitchen?’ but he said ‘Forget it, it was the most exciting experience for me, because you are in front of 22 people, all looking at you, and you have to do something in front of them, you have to do true cooking’, here they have to do things by themselves, with no special ovens or machines.”
The elevated space’s bird’s-eye vantage point also inspires creativity, “When the chefs think about preparing a menu, many ideas come, because it’s so different. For example, for Christian Sinicropi of The Martinez, everything was connected with the stars and the moonlight. He created globes of ice with a yellow and green candle, filled with gazpacho with avocado mousse and shrimp with caviar. You had the feeling that there were 22 stars there within the stars, it really motivates the imagination,” notes Ghysels.
The intimacy of seeing culinary wizardry at close quarters only adds to the allure of the vertiginous adventure, in step with the trend of the coveted chef’s table and the teppanyaki hotplates on which Japanese chefs perform. For Ghysels and his partners, there are other aspects that also peak our desire to dine above the rooftops. “Little boys want to climb trees, to see from on high what is going on below on the ground…another aspect with Dinner In The Sky is that people also want to be seen, and with this they can both see and be seen,” he surmises.
Dinner In The Sky is currently taking bookings in 22 countries around the world, with further launches in São Paulo and Chandigarh by Christmas, and Cyprus, Lebanon, Russia and Romania in 2010. For around 8,000 euros for a day’s rental the experience may not come cheap, but it is a resounding success nonetheless, inspiring new locations as well as new ideas, from marriages, meetings and concerts, to golf and gambling – the group’s latest area of focus. Ghysels and the team are also currently working on an adrenaline-fueled safari dinner – dining above the big five. However, for Ghysels, his ultimate sky high dream is simple, “I would invite my wife, my three daughters and 18 of her girlfriends. I would cook and sing for her and just spend the night laughing and drinking in the sky of Udaïpur, among the stars and above the Taj Lake Palace Hotel.”