Appetite

R&D

Our R&D section features two kinds of work: deeply-researched dishes from our chef’s tasting menu which changes twice a year; and improvisational dishes from our weekly omakase  menu.

Bread & Broth

R&D

Part of our selection of snacks.

BREAKING BREAD

Bread historically occupies a place of importance for humans. The act of sharing it, of “breaking bread”, remains one of the most universal identifiers of our social, gregarious nature. In fact, the word companion, derived from the Latin “with” and “bread”, is a reminder of human bonds reinforced by the act of sharing this staple food.

The baking of our first primitive flat breads took place in the area around present-day Turkey and Iraq, 14 thousand years ago. Bread baking predates agriculture, and indeed is credited with necessary shifts in attitude that would ultimately lead to our transition from nomadic life, the first agricultural revolution, the creation of our first city states and indeed the birth of human civilization.


SILKEN CHEESE

Symbolising humanity’s love for custards of all sorts, our silken cheese draws inspiration from the many paneers, possets, and tofus of history. Indeed, custards have shared spontaneous developments across the globe and stand as a testament to a certain universal approach to cooking that operates without the need of instruction or sharing, beautifully inherited by every community of humans dotted around the world.


RESTAURANT BROTH

A Nouri signature since its opening, this nourishing seven- vegetable broth is a tribute to the history and real purpose of restaurants – directly linked to the terms “renew”, “restore” and “reinvigorate”, Restaurants were indeed broth served to tired travellers at non-descript inns in medieval and Renaissance France. At the same time the word is also linked to the word “innovate”, from the latin innovare (to renew) – a place where new life can be breathed into tradition.

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Methodology

Our research and development methodology at Nouri is structured, but we always leave room for improvisation. We follow research guidelines but are willing to break them if the work demands it. Our primary mandate is always creative.

We begin with a specific kind of pattern recognition. Drawing on the vocational strength of our chefs, we identify similarities in ingredient, technique, or flavour of dishes from around the world. How does a mole from Mexico resemble a red curry from Thailand? Why do Peruvians cure their fish in the same way as Pacific Islanders? We are able to ask these questions because our chefs taste these questions. Taste— which can be dismissed as a subjective experience in amateurs— is a rigorous tool at the disposal of our professional chefs. It frames and guides our research questions.

We then conduct preliminary historical research to determine whether the patterns we identify are the result of mutually independent development or cultural exchange. When an ingredient is found around the world, we often see similar methods of use. Liquorice is an example. More often, we recognise similarities because of cultural exchange. Food travels across boundaries and between cultures through trade, war, migration, etc. As a result, each culture adopts the ingredient or technique, featuring certain elements of the culture from which it received it, and imbuing the item with new features, too. Chili pepper is an excellent case study of an ingredient that has transformed the cuisines of South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

Our chefs begin their development process with these initial observations.

Then, we approach relevant experts— sometimes regional historians, other times anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, economists, etc.— to validate, and sometimes challenge, our hypotheses. They provide access to primary source materials that help us map the lineage of a specific food item as it travels across cultures. This step is essential to our crossroads approach to food; it allows us to work with products or techniques that are verifiably shared by people globally.

We also partner with chemists and food scientists to examine the molecular structures of the foods we think share common origins or features. On our menu, we serve a rice stem dish that draws on the shared flavour profiles of a south Indian buttermilk and a Norman sauce dieppoise; this link is confirmed scientifically and culturally. 

Our final output is an original dish that is conceptually related to food traditions from around the world without being traditional. It is innovative without ignoring historical influences. It fulfils the requirements of a complete dish in terms of taste, texture, and style, but also paves the way for a broader engagement with global culture.

Beyond food 

Crossroads thinking was born out of a desire to think more deeply and critically about culture and globalisation. A focus on food was incidental— we just happened to be chefs and/or working in the culinary industry. Crossroads was an epistemological position before it was a cooking philosophy.

Today, we collaborate with architects, fashion designers, and visual artists to expand their practices with a detailed study of cross-cultural interaction and influence.