- Uncanny dining experience took place at the Andaz Liverpool Street as part of the hotel's 5th birthday celebrations
- Leeches swam freely and crawled onto diner's plates
- Futuristic display rounded off a three course meal set in 1913, 2013 and 2113
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They are a culinary duo known for their innovative creations and outlandish taste. But none of the diners at Bompas & Parr's feast for the Andaz hotel's recent 5th birthday celebrations could have predicted that they would be joined at pudding by such unexpected guests.
Following a spectacular two-course meal at the Liverpool Street hotel curated by the pair, better known for their ingenious jelly sculptures, diners were invited to ascend to a futuristic fantasy room where a table had been laid, imagined by Bompas & Parr as a dining experience might be in 2113.
The table, which at first glance seemed to be rendered in bright pink perspex, soon transpired to be a 20ft long pool of liquid upon which floated slate mats laden with a cornucopia of colourful treats.
Striking: The stunning pink room was the third location for the three course, three venue meal, which started in the hotel's dining room, had the main course in the mystical environs of the Masonic Temple and ended in the futuristic room
Brave: One diner plucked the leech from the water and was rewarded with a gentle bite. Right, the leeches swam between the slate plates and even wriggled up on top
Glasses of dessert wine were submerged in the liquid, appearing to be just a quarter of an inch full. But when lifted, guests were rewarded with a hefty measure of the wine.
Orbs filled with tart rhubarb and creamy custard were floated between diners like little futuristic vessels; rubix cubes of exotic fruits were laced with absinthe, lemongrass and sour cherry using loaded pipettes.
Already it was a sensory experience like no other. But the piece de resistance, and the moment that will forever be remembered by all present, was when a shiny, slippery black leech darted past one of the diner's plates, cutting through the surface of the pink liquid as it went.Â
Moments later, it had wriggled and writhed its way up onto one of the slate plates and one of the more courageous diners had plucked it from the pink puddle where it lay and was now showing it to the rest of the guests.
Reader, I confess here I, as I think they say in the business, lost it.Â
Thirsty? One adventurous leech creeps towards the dessert wine
Surprise: What looked at first glance to be a shiny pink perspex or glass surface turned out to be an opaque pink liquid with leeches swimming within
Futuristic: The fantasy room was set up to host the sort of feast culinary creatives Bompas & Parr imagine we will be enjoying in the year 2013
While others scooped around in the creepily opaque pink depths to find their own leech, I shot 10ft backwards in my chair, clutching at the damp bits on my wrists where the water had splashed up, yelping (screeching?), 'Is it on me? Is it on me?'.
Needless to say it wasn't, and once I'd calmed down, I enjoyed watching the little creatures swimming merrily around as we ate the delights they'd have given their only sucker to nibble on.
Nebular jellies, binary macaroons, those rhubarb and custard spheres, and a 2002 Patricius from Tokaj, Hungary, to top it all off.Â
At the end of the night there only remained a quick last minute check for lingering leeches before we reluctantly slipped back to the 21st century.
Through the ages: The adventurous menu by Bompas & Parr for the 5th birthday celebrations of the Andaz Hotel in London's Liverpool St
To book dinner at Andaz (leeches not included), visit andazdining.com or visit the Andaz website here.
To book Bompas & Parr for an event or to find out more about the creative duo, visit jellymongers.co.uk.
NB: Bompas & Parr assured us that the water was not toxic and no leeches were harmed in the making of this meal.
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