Incognito: Chapter One

We caught up with creator and founder Himesh Chhima – a multidisciplinary artist, chef, and all-round creative.

Recently returned to Wellington after many years working overseas in international kitchens and bringing Incognito Global to life in New Zealand following eight years in the Melbourne culinary scene, Chhima is excited to bring the immersive quality back to art and dining in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

With so many layers of mystery wrapped around Chapter One, we wanted to rack Chhima’s brain for every little detail...

What can people expect from your event?
Chapter One is a fully curated three-hour dining experience of mystery and magic featuring contributions from artists around the world. These are once-only experiences with artists integrated in the dining experience; what happens behind those doors appears only for those who choose to attend. Masked behind a sense of mystery and mystique, the artists reiterate that Chapter One is all about the unknown. This is about choosing to be a part of a rare moment in time, and that’s the gift we’re offering here.

How is your event different from a typical multi-course degustation?
In most dining experiences and degustations you know the menu, you’ve seen the dishes, you know how many courses, you attend with your group, and a transactional approach engaging only through expectation. We believe that with curiosity and the element of surprise, the world of the unknown can feel more liberating and energising. For that reason, we keep all the details a secret and only reveal those details to those who attend.

We’ve also removed all the unnecessary features of dining that can make multi-course dining inaccessible to everyday people. No need to feel hesitation or judgement from choosing from a wine list or menu, just an entirely curated evening where all attendees experience a magical experience together.

What can people expect to taste and experience at your event?
The Chapter One menu is custom designed especially for this event, with the contributors in mind and woven into each specific moment – differing vastly from a typical multi–course feast at a restaurant. The rules of engagement are simple, show up, and we’ll curate the rest. Taste what you taste, feel what you feel.

The entire event is designed so that intuition and your senses are your guides for the experience. It’s a place where you can let go and experience things for yourself. For us, human connection is at the core of pleasure and experience, and everything begins with a connection with senses and through your body… this experience will only exist for a single moment in time, and this is your only chance.

Tell us about your culinary experience.
My personal experience in the culinary world was always a brutal one driven by a defiance to the status quo. When you think differently to the industry, there is always a sense of resistance. And you have to build your own support structures to get where you want to be and create what you wish to see. I did my rigorous training inside the strict and rigid institutional rules for over a decade, always learning and focusing on mastering the rules before I broke them into pieces. I’ve worked everything from high end fine dining kitchens, thorough to polished front of house service roles and even competition level cocktails, always wanting more.

And what about the underground culinary scene in Melbourne?
The underground in Melbourne was a place for us to stay under the radar, push the boundaries and challenge and develop new ideas. We collided every single discipline we could, challenged and broke as many rules as possible, learning many lessons by experiencing them ourselves. With this current evolution of the brand Incognito Global, we’re bringing all of what we developed ‘above ground’ and connecting with contributors around the world. It’s a huge step for us, but we’ve been preparing for this for almost a decade and Wellington gets to be the first place to experience it.

What is the purpose of giving the artists anonymity and keeping the food menu secret? 
By not revealing anything about the experience to anyone attending, any prior knowledge is irrelevant at the event. All guests start together at the same place and finish at the same destination, so it’s a unique experience that can turn strangers into best friends. It’s an opportunity to re-live that childlike mind of experiencing something for the first time. Taste the food before you know who the chef is, listen to the notes of the music as opposed to the profile of the musician… in a way it lets the quality of the work have a voice of its own that only speaks to you as an attendee, tasting every bite like it’s the last one you’ll ever have.

Where did you grow up and what has influenced your craft?
I grew up in Wellington, spent my time in Wellington College (mostly hiding in Tim Costello’s art room) fascinated by everything from art through to physics and math, studied through to a post grad at University in Otago, played field hockey at a competitive level in both New Zealand and Australia. I uniquely have both a strategic and artistic brain allowing my perspectives to be both calculated and liberating.

The small things are always more insightful to me than the big things. It’s always about the tiniest little details. I always like to reveal the beauty I see in ordinary experiences, and when that one person notices, it’s everything for them and those are the moments I want people to have more of. I moved to Melbourne and crafted a fascination for palatable things, travelled Europe multiple times eating everything I could, and lived and worked in Canada for a few years. Every experience I have in life influences my craft, and I just try to stay just awake enough to notice the small things.

Would you call this a homecoming event of sorts?
I truly wanted to begin this global iteration of my journey where I began my story. Having left here for so long, I know who I am now is a completely different person now, and I never feel like I truly belong in a physical place, other than in the hearts of the people I connect with. I wanted to return with all the gifts from around the world I’ve gathered and offer these gifts to the select few who attend in Wellington, as the first place to experience this truly intimate and elevated experience.

Chapter One takes place at a secret location in Wellington (postcode 6021) on Saturday 8 November at 6:30pm. Tickets are available to purchase here.

Disclaimer: ARTicle includes a variety of content, including interviews, editorial commentary and links to external sources. The views expressed by interviewees, editors and external sources are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Tāwhiri, its team, or its partners.