Shanghai’s Secret: Paul Pairet’s Multi-Sensory Dining Experience

Nestled in an undisclosed location within a historic Shanghai neighborhood is Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, a restaurant that defies traditional classification. It is a place where gastronomy meets high theatre, where the setting is not a room but an immersive, curated world built around the food on the plate. Serving just ten diners at a single communal table each night, the three-Michelin-star restaurant has become a global pilgrimage site for food enthusiasts seeking a journey that is as much about psychological stimulation as it is about exceptional taste. The experience begins with an element of intrigue. Guests gather at the chef’s bistro, Mr & Mrs Bund, before being https://thenewyorkerdeli.com/ chauffeured in a van to the secret venue. The dining room is deliberately bare, an ascetic “blank canvas” equipped with state-of-the-art multimedia technology: video-screen walls, surround-sound audio, bespoke lighting, and subtle scent emitters. Every one of the roughly 20 courses is paired with these atmospheric enhancements to intensify the sensory perception of the dish—an approach Pairet refers to as “psycho taste.” French chef Paul Pairet, a winner of the Chef’s Choice Award at the 2016 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, spent over 15 years conceptualizing this experience to remove the “random factor of ambience” from dining. His cuisine is avant-garde yet figurative, known for its precision, wit, and ability to play with a diner’s expectations. One of the meal’s most visually stunning and memorable moments, captured dramatically, involves a bone marrow dish that is flambéed right at the table. An alcohol is carefully poured, erupting into a vibrant blue and orange flame that envelopes the rich, dark bone. This spectacle is a prime example of the restaurant’s core philosophy: connecting the diner to the dish not just through taste, but through visual and olfactory stimulation that releases the aromas in a theatrical “wow” moment. The entire meal is a meticulously choreographed narrative, sometimes called a “story in 20 courses,” that has earned global acclaim. Diners might find themselves transported to a stormy seaside for a fish and chips course, complete with the sound of a tempest and projected visuals of the ocean. The goal is simple yet profound: to create such a powerful and specific memory of the food that it stays with the diner long after the meal is over. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet is an experience that defies easy description; it is a blend of comfort and experimentation, high-tech engineering and pure human emotion. It is an audacious experiment in how atmosphere can manipulate perception, proving that in the right hands, the dining experience can be a complete work of art.