Taste test: Restaurant feeds on experimentation

Like scientists in a lab, the four in-house chefs must document all of their testing and tweaking. Whenever they invent a new dish, they must fill out a standard form, checking all of the boxes that apply, which acts as an informational and a brand identity tool.

The venture is the brainchild of Swedish designer Petter Johansson. ‘Our goal is different from many restaurants,’ he says. ‘It’s not to have really happy customers. That sometimes makes it horrible to work here. The goal is to try things and to see what works or not, to be really experimental, to be free to make things that taste ugly.’

For more on how the spirit of experimentation has moved beyond the laboratory, read our Lab Talk microtrend.