A Not-to-be-Missed One-of-a-Kind NYC Experience
A VR Team and Japanese restaurant join for an All-senses visual/culinary journey
Chef Kazushige Suzuki of Icca
Talk about surrounding the senses! Chef Kazushige Suzuki of Icca (one of New York City’s most coveted dining destinations which has earned a Michelin star for the last three yeas), has teamed up with flounders Elizaveta Petrova and. Nikolai Popov of EPIC NOW to create an authentic 8-course Japanese cuisine tasting menu complete with high definition virtual reality. Guests dine while exploring an immersive 360 degree virtual environment which changes with each unique tasting course.
Elizaveta Petrova, co-founder of EPIC NOW, Chef Suzuki and EPIC NOW’s Nikolai Popov
Only nine guests can enjoy the experience at a time, which begins at the sake bar with two sake tastings (both delicious).
Sake tasting at Icca
Guests are then escorted into the sushi bar to meet Chef Kazushige Suzuki who is preparing dishes for the EPIC.NOW experience.
Sushi bar at Icca with VR headsets
In front of each guest is a goblet with a small plate attached to the top, on which each course will be served (the fish is flown in daily from Japan). Next, guests are fitted with a Virtual Reality headset by EPIC NOW’s Elizaveta Petrova. And then the magic happens: suddenly you are in a 12 HD environment and can see only what is on your screen. It might be an underwater scene with a giant tortoise swimming in seemingly slow motion in front of you and a Scuba diver swimming in the distance. Look down and you’ll see more fish and underwater undulating corals. Turn your head towards the back for even more fish.
A still from EPIC NOW’s VR experience
While the scene plays, Elizaveta tells the diners to eat. I feel around with my hands for the goblet, bring it towards my mouth, and let the delicious morsel slide into my mouth.
One of the 9 tasting courses at Icca
Another minute you might be in a jungle environment in which two tigers suddenly appear, so close you feel as though you can touch them. At some point, Elizabeth tells you to eat. There is also a gorgeous theatre scene – perhaps it is the Grand Opera House in Austria or Russia. Look above you to gasp at the gorgeous hand-painted oval, so detailed, you think you are in the Vatican. Turn your head to each side and behind you to view hundreds of empty red velvet chairs. Another delicious tasting is on your goblet.
One of the many EPIC NOW VR experiences
The VR experience continues until the last scene, with parched earth everywhere and an atomic bomb going off in the distance. Soon, the smoke from the explosion turns into a tree sprouting roots and green leaves climbing towards the sky – a most encouraging sign of hope and a perfect way to end an eight course tasting. Elizabeth tells us to take off our goggles for the last course, dessert, a perfect chestnut Monaka cookie.
Chestnut Monaka cookie
While it might seem strange to be doing a blind tasting, Elizabeth says, “For us, the idea of not knowing each dish in advance is rooted in something quite simple: surprise. In a world where we’re constantly reading ahead, reviewing, and pre-knowing every detail, we wanted to create a moment of pure presence — where the guest could engage with flavor, texture, and story in real time, without the mind jumping ahead.”
Chef Suzuki prepares one of the tastings
Elizaveta explains that the concept borrows a little from eating in the dark, but here,
she says, “it’s not about removing sight — it’s about inviting curiosity. That sense of wonder, of being momentarily disoriented and reoriented is at the heart of the experience.”
The EPIC NOW experience with Icca’s Chef Suzuki will close at the end of May, and as it only happens two days a weeks so best to book now.
An EPIC NOW VR scene of a village in Japan