- In June, a fine-dining restaurant located in the middle of a Norwegian lake opened its doors.
- Based inside a metal structure shaped like a fish eye, Restaurant Iris is run by Chef Anika Madsen.
- Iris seats up to 24 guests, who pay as much as $560 to eat 18 courses during the 6-hour experience.
In June, Restaurant Iris opened its doors in the middle of a Norwegian fjord.
Since Restaurant Iris opened in the middle of a fjord in Norway on June 21, the establishment has made headlines around the world.
The restaurant — which is housed in an orb-shaped metallic structure named the Salmon Eye — has received viral attention on TikTok, where people have been drawing comparisons between the remote fine-dining experience and Hawthorn, the fictional restaurant from the acclaimed 2022 horror-comedy film, "The Menu."
The setting of "The Menu" was actually based on another Norwegian restaurant located on a private island, cowriter Will Tracy told Seth Meyers in a November 2022 interview. Tracy said he visited Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant on his honeymoon and began to panic before his five-hour meal when he saw the boat that took him there pull away from the island.
"I'm a sort of world-class claustrophobe," Tracy said. "I felt like, what if something goes wrong? We were kind of putting our lives in their hands, right? I mean, what if someone has a heart condition? We're miles from the mainland."
The restaurant floats on the waters of Hardangerjord, the third longest fjord in the world.
Fjords, long bodies of water stretching inland from the ocean created by melting glaciers, are typically found in Norway, Chile, New Zealand, Canada, Greenland, and Alaska, according to the National Geographic.
Hardangerjord, where Iris is located, is one of the longest fjords in the world, according to the Hardanger tourist website. It's known for its scenic views, skiing, swimming, hiking, and for the production of apple cider.
Just like in "The Menu," the only way to get to Iris is by boat — and the entire "expedition dining" experience can last up to six hours.
According to the restaurant website, guests interested in booking a table should block out at least six hours for the "expedition dining" experience.
To get to the restaurant, they have to travel by boat so all guests are encouraged to wear clothes "according to the weather," the website says. While there is no dress code for guests — who are equipped with a life jacket on the boat transfer — the conditions at sea can be "windy," the website adds.
Iris is led by Chef Anika Madsen, who has worked at several Michelin-star restaurants.
The 30-year-old's resumé includes stints at Formel B, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Copenhagen, and several restaurants in the Kadeau group, according to a press release shared on the Restaurant Iris website.
Prior to joining Iris, Madsen worked as the head chef of the Roxie, a now-closed restaurant in Copenhagen, where she got the nickname "the umami queen," the press release adds.
As of August 2023, 17 people work at Iris, including Madsen — who has said she's committed to pushing the boundaries of "sustainability" in food.
"It has always been close to my heart to lift the less known sustainable ingredients into the spotlight," Madsen said in the press release shared on the Restaurant Iris website. "If I discover an ingredient that will lead to a greener future, I am not afraid to push boundaries. But to convince people to love it, it needs to be truly delicious."
One such ingredient Madsen could be referring to is "invasive red sea urchin," a seafood she said she was excited to work with at Iris. According to Science Norway, species of urchin have been invading Norway's waters since the early 1970s and turning coastal seabeds that were once green with kelp into underwater deserts.
By harvesting the sea creatures and turning them into delicacies, Madsen and her team are using fine dining to help solve Norway's urchin dilemma.
Before reaching Iris, guests are invited to take a quick pit stop at Madsen's boathouse on a nearby island.
The boat trip begins in the nearby town of Rosendal. But before reaching Iris, guests are taken to Madsen's boathouse on the island of Sniltsveitøy, where she relocated after leaving Copenhagen.
While specific details about the journey aren't readily available on the website, a glimpse of a typical experience was shared by Alexander Varga, co-owner of Hungarian Michelin-starred restaurant 42, on YouTube.
Uploaded on July 17, Varga's video, which has over 360,000 views, showcases his dining experience at Iris from the moment he and fellow diners are picked up on a boat. During the stop at Madsen's boathouse, as Varga's video shows, guests were served local cider and snacks, including a dish that Varga said was made to honor "nature's diversity."
The dish, shaped like a cone, was made with vegetables, herbs, and a citrus emulsion.
After enjoying the snacks and cider, Varga said the guests returned to the boat that was taking them to the "main event" at the floating restaurant.
Before dinner at Iris begins, guests have a "multisensory underwater experience" in the Salmon Eye.
According to the website's description of a night at Iris, guests are walked through an "multisensory underwater experience" in the Salmon Eye prior to sitting down for dinner.
The stainless-steel structure, owned by food producer Eide Fjordbruk, is the world's first carbon-neutral certified salmon producer, according to the press release shared on the Restaurant Iris website. It weighs over 1,250 tons and is divided into four levels, one of which is underwater, the press release says.
Varga's video shows how he and fellow guests were guided, upon arrival, into a dark room below sea level, then shown a film about challenges to the food sector's sustainability goals and how the menu at Iris hopes to present solutions to those problems.
"The 18-course menu presents ideas to see our biggest food challenges in a new light and focuses on the untapped potential of the ocean," Varga said, speaking of the information shared in the video.
The dinner consists of 18 courses themed around the "challenges and threats to the global food system."
The menu at Iris reads like "a story," according to the restaurant's website. That story is comprised of "the challenges and threats to the global food system, but also with ideas and suggestions for future innovations," the website adds.
Many of the dishes are also inspired by the landscape of the Hardangerfjord region, known for being home to some of the country's most famous waterfalls, according to Visit Norway.
Many of the ingredients served at Iris, including the invasive urchins and seaweed, are sourced from the surrounding waters.
In the restaurant's press release, Madsen said that the waters of Hardangerfjord surrounding the Salmon Eye offer some of the "most exciting seafood" in the world.
Before opening Iris, she said she was especially looking forward to creating fine-dining meals from common ingredients found in the fjord like seaweed. Madsen said the menu at Iris would also include ingredients sourced from the land such as game meats, sheep's milk, and ciders.
Dishes at Iris playfully reimagine nature, similar to those served at Hawthorn in "The Menu."
Fans of "The Menu" will recall that some of the courses shown in the movie imitate scenes of nature.
For example, the first course diners are served is called "The Island." Made from seaweed, plants, flowers, scallop, and frozen seawater, the decorative dish is intended to re-create the ecosystem of the island the fictional restaurant is on.
Iris takes a similar approach. Specific menu details aren't shared on the website, but Varga's YouTube video shows how he was served an eclectic range of dishes throughout the evening.
One such dish was called "Feeding the Future," photographed above. Before eating it, Varga filmed the moment diners were introduced to four "sustainable proteins" — insects, algae powder, yeast, and mycelium, a type of fungus — that make up a cream.
Once combined, the cream was served alongside a breaded salmon placed on top of a transparent, rectangular plate that appeared to re-create the bottom of the ocean, as Varga's video shows.
Guests typically spend up to $560 at Iris, which can serve up to 24 people a night.
Besides November and December — when the restaurant is closed — you'll need to book a table at Iris months in advance.
For example, reservations for November open for bookings from September 4.
A representative for the restaurant said Iris can accomodate 24 diners a night, spread out into two seatings of 12. The restaurant accepts bookings for parties of one to six guests, and each diner can expect to spend up to $560.
Those who have been to Iris so far say it's a dining experience like no other. According to Mari Eriksmoen, visiting Iris felt like "going to the moon."
Eriksmoen, a Norwegian opera singer, shared a TikTok about her experience of visiting Iris in July, which has over 8.7 million views as of August 2023.
She told Insider that her visit to Iris was a fine-dining experience like no other she's had, and that arriving to the restaurant made her "heart jump."
"It was so extraordinary," she said, adding that it "felt like going to the moon."
"All the dishes were composed in such an innovative way," she said. "Not one dull or uninteresting serving."
Eriksmoen said the view from Iris was "breathtaking."
"I had this funny feeling that I was a part of something secret that soon would be a huge thing," Eriksmoen said. "It's so unique, this combination of nature scenery like a movie and a world-class food experience."
Like Varga, Eriksmoen said she and her fellow diners were guided into the room within the Salmon Eye that was close to 10 feet beneath sea level. There, Eriksmoen said she was also shown a film about food waste and served their first dish — crackers hanging from a wall "like a fishing line" paired with local sea urchin.
Eriksmoen said all the dishes at Iris were composed "in such an innovative way."
Like Varga, Eriksmoen said the courses she was served at the restaurant had creative names, such as "uni-fication."
Her favorite course was a three-month old salmon served with fried smolt — a term used to describe an early life stage of the fish — that was paired with a dip.
"Most gourmet restaurants I've been to have some forgettable dishes, but I loved every part of Anika Madsen's 18 courses," Eriksmoen said.
She also said staff at Iris are well aware of "The Menu" comparisons, which they find "hilarious."
Iris does share some undeniable similarities to the restaurant in "The Menu." It's intimate, remote, somewhat pricey, and offers guests dishes with some pretty eclectic names.
What's more, Eriksmoen said that staffers at Iris are well aware of the jokes comparing the restaurant to "The Menu," which she said they find "hilarious."
However, unlike nearly every character in "The Menu," Eriksmoen survived her fine-dining night at Iris and loved every moment of it.
"As an opera singer I've traveled the world and been to many Michelin restaurants, but I've never seen anything like this," she said, calling it "the most extraordinary restaurant experience of my life so far."
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