Pioneers of immersive gastronomy Bompas & Parr present two exquisite new dining concepts at historical AlUla – home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra; Forces of Nature, a lava cooking experience and Incense Road, a multi-sensory dining experience inspired by an epic episode of history, celebrating AlUla’s legacy at the heart of the Incense Road.
Forces of Nature
For the first of its kind event, Bompas & Parr offers diners an incredible opportunity to eat sumptuous local produce, cooked across a stream of molten lava heated to a staggering 1350 degrees Celsius. The studio’s venture builds on the ground-breaking work of one of the world’s foremost experts in molten rock, Prof. Robert Wysocki from Syracuse University in New York.
Lava technicians will pour out the molten rocks in a performance spectacle, where guests’ dinner is cooked across fresh hot lava, seared to perfection in mere seconds, or smoked, roasted and grilled over three roaring fire pits. This immersive experience features a phenomenal set menu with the finest of local ingredients. Bompas & Parr has teamed up with regional suppliers to bring to life the heart of a volcano at the table. This culinary world-first feast is open for a limited time only so book now to avoid disappointment.
Magical landscapes
Set under the night sky, journey to the heart of the sublime Shallal Canyon, guided by torchlight through a bespoke sound and light installation. The limestone of AlUla was formed between 541 and 251 million years ago, during the Paleozoic Era creating the rock-faces that allowed habitation that are synonymous with AlUla. Experience the distinctive geology of the region, its sandstone canyons and black lunar volcanic plateaus in an immersive way.
Fresh from the fire
Drawing on the raw power of nature, the Forces of Nature set menus prepared by our expert pit-masters are inspired by the origins of cooking on open flames, featuring whole salt baked celeriac, charred fillets of beef finished across molten lava, and pit-roasted saddles of goat, grilled across fire pits. Drink offerings include smoked, flamed and charred cocktails, as well as coffee and tea and a heated table side with red-hot loggerheads (drink pokers), fresh from the fire.
Incense Road
Bompas & Parr has collaborated with multimedia storytelling company Avocado Toast to bring to life a cutting-edge 360 immersive digital dining room, drawing on the expert knowledge of curators and historical researchers to evoke the stories of the Incense Road that was at its height some 2,000 ago.
Over six curated courses, stories from the Incense Road are brought to life through immersive audio-visual projection, sharing inspired stories of traders and historical icons, paired with exquisite food, drinks, and an evolving incense scent-scape.
Steeped in history
Inspired by the legacy and luxury of the Incense Road that once connected AlUla’s ancient Arabian kingdoms with the great civilisations of antiquity, the multi-sensorial event will take visitors to the time when Hegra was at the height of its power – AlUla’s once bustling city presided over by the Nabataeans.
Once controlled the routes of passage that enabled the trade of incense and other luxurious items coveted by the contemporary civilisations of their time, including ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and Egyptian dynasties. Situated around a vast communal table in a custom-built tent at Nakhil Brzan Farm, the dinner recontextualises the ancient gathering places of the Nabataeans at Hegra into a contemporary luxury setting.
An odyssey of flavour
The flavours, the scents, the tastes, the sounds and the spices of the Incense Road, is brought to guests through a modern interpretation of the ingredients that would have been experienced along the Incense Road, from Memphis-style cardamom spiced chicken to traditional pit roasted goat shoulder and cinnamon infused chocolate Trajan coins. Source and photos Courtesy of Bompas & Parr.
