Leading restaurant introduces smell-able menu

DINERS at a Basque restaurant will be able to smell the menu before ordering with a new smartphone app and a plug-in diffuser.

The triple Michelin starred restaurant, Mugaritz, has teamed up with a Japanese technology company to add the ‘Smell-o-vision’ concept to its fine dining experience.

After calling up a dish on your mobile screen, the diffuser, plugged into the phone’s headphone jack, releases a burst of fragrance related to that meal.

The concept was unveiled at Madrid’s gastronomy festival Madrid Fusion last month.

The diffuser app, named ‘Scentee’, is available worldwide and ships to 120 countries with set smells of strawberry, lavender, coffee and rosemary.

This technology could also pave the way for future scentagram-style social media apps that allow friends to send one another scented messages, recreate virtual meals, and allow people to smell their groceries first when online shopping.

Mugaritz was last year voted the world’s fourth best eaterie in Restaurant magazine.

According to the magazine, diners are treated to a multiple-course tasting menu of ‘intricate yet small dishes developed through a creative process and an attention to detail that borders on the obsessive’.

Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz aims to ‘play with guests and reflect on the different ways a restaurant can have an impact, rather than just filling people up and sending them on their way’.