Food fads may come and go (no, we would not like our burger bun replaced with an entire avocado or sushi rice, thank you), but pairing top-notch music with fine dining cuisine is one trend we can absolutely get on board with.
Last week, Beats By Dre hosted a trailblazing dinner in partnership with Tom Sellers, the young maverick chef behind one of London's hottest restaurants, Story, that showcased what we're betting will be the next big innovation on the capital's restaurant scene. Every dish on Seller's Michelin star-winning, six-course menu was served with a specially curated, themed playlist, bridging the gap between food and music and making a multi-sensory meal unlike anything we've experienced before.
Sellers, who first worked with Beats By Dre during the last World Cup, where he created a menu to sit alongside the headphone brand's Guy Ritchie-directed advert, says the close working relationship between them is rooted in a similar approach. "Being progressive and disturbing in our own industries is important to both of us," Sellers tells GQ. "If you look at how Beats came into the industry, they were very disruptive in what they did. That's basically what its brand is about. And I think I have a similar approach in my industry: we're always looking to innovate."
For help with the soundtrack, self-confessed music-obsessive Sellers enlisted his friend Professor Green. "It was really collaborative," Sellers says. "So I'd go to him and say, Green, we're doing the edible candle dish – that's my signature – which is inspired by my father, who was crazy for Motown. So he took that brief and came up with a mini Motown playlist."
Songs such as Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" played loudly overhead while guests dipped freshly baked bread into rib-sticking beef dripping, which was fashioned as a candle and melted into a little dish, served alongside celery and Bovril. "I'm from a working class family in the North and my father loved beef dripping. He would eat it on a Sunday," Sellers explains. "In terms of nostalgia, evoking memory and the power of a story, this has to be the most signifiant dish for me."
This appreciation of how music and food conjure up memories shaped the entire menu. Langoustine were paired with Oasis. Why? Because, Sellers says, songs such as "Morning Glory" would get him through a gruelling day prepping tons of langoustine while he worked at chef-mecca Noma in Copenhagen. Run DMC played while Sellers' take on a lemon sherbet, which was his favourite sweet as a child, was served for dessert. "I have this vivid memory of that time period in my life, which was buying my first CD. And that was Run DMC, hence why we put those together. A "Beats" beetroot starter came, of course, with lots of Dr Dre, while Eurythmics blared out of the speakers as the delicate venison and cauliflower main was being eaten, which Sellers remembers his mother cooking while listening to Annie Lennox. You get the picture.
While plating up fine dining fare with a side of rap might seem outlandish, this isn't the first time Sellers has thought carefully about the music in his restaurant, about "finding a narrative or story behind why we play that music day to day in the restaurant". Usually, the soundtrack at Story is made up of songs chosen by chefs all over the world, who shared their favourites at Sellers' request, before he asked Rudimental to curate the wider playlist.
The music isn't specifically matched to dishes, however, hence why this dinner with Beats marked a new frontier in the future of food. "The food industry, like the music industry, is on fire right now. It's become more progressive, more interactive and there's so much new talent coming through" says Sellers. "Young people especially want to be stimulated in more than one way. If you throw it back, dinner and cabaret or live music was a thing and we kind of lost that for a while. There aren't many venues where you can go and see that done well."
Sellers wants to fill that void with his next restaurant, with a "throwback to tradition in terms of how we put food and music together" set to replace the ambient background music and tinkling inoffensive jazz we've become so accustomed to in high-end restaurants. Will Beats be on board? Sellers is staying tight lipped for now. "There'll be other collaborative projects. What that looks like exactly we don't know. But I think that's what makes it exciting."
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