A restaurant serving a 50-course menu has opened in Copenhagen

Called Alchemist, the 24,000sq ft restaurant is located in a building that was once home to the Danish Royal Theatre.

The restaurant is the brainchild of chef Rasmus Munk, a practitioner of the latest strand of molecular gastronomy. It serves a 50-course menu, referred to as ‘impressions' rather than courses, which are accompanied by drinks pairings. A meal can take anything from three to five hours, with diners able to control the speed and regularity of dishes and take breaks when necessary.

Diners are asked to come to Alchemist ‘with an open mind’. The restaurant says that while they won’t be asked to partake in any theatrics during the meal, it adds: ‘we hope you are ready to expand your idea of culinary art together with us’. It also suggests that the restaurant ‘might not be the right choice for an evening of business discussions or that first nervous date’.

Dishes on Alchemist’s menu are designed to Munk to be engaging, thought provoking and sometimes shocking, and include ‘blood diamond’ - a combination of tomato, kombucha and tabasco served on diamond-shaped ice cubes; ‘think outside the box’ - lamb’s brain in cherry sauce and walnut oil, which comes in a transparent box; and ‘food for thought’ - made from ethically produced foie gras from wild geese that land in Spain once a year and eat acorns and olives before migrating southwards that is served inside a waxwork head.

A meal costs 2,500 Danish Krone (around £300), with wine pairings costing up to an additional £600.

Monk previously ran his 15-seater restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen but closed it two years ago to concentrate on this new project.