Watching a film is one thing, tasting a film is something else entirely. At Cinema Culinair, your plate mirrors the on-screen scenes, and you eat what the characters are eating, while they eat it. Journalist Nathalie de Graaf boarded the gastronomic rollercoaster of the film Chef in the Werkspoorkathedraal.
With a table number in one hand and a glass in the other, my husband and I go to look for our seats. The Wasruimte in the Werkspoorkathedraal has been transformed into a cosy restaurant/cinema with long tables. We’re handed a bowl of popcorn when we arrive and we can order wine at the bar. Huge film screens hang on either side of the tables.
Cinema Culinair: what you see is what you eat. While you watch The Menu, Ratatouille, Chef or Julie & Julia, you eat the same dishes as they’re eating in the film. Simultaneously, timed to the second. Tickets cost 90 euros, excl drinks.
Everyone takes their seats. It’s a mixed audience: from young to old. We feel an immediate connection with the people next to us. They saw the concept on Instagram and are there for the first time too.
During the word of welcome, it becomes clear that Cinema Culinair was first conceived in 2008. The owner of a building in Graaf Florisstraat in Rotterdam, Harold Smit, started a film club for 20 people. The idea was to eat and watch a film simultaneously. It was a big flop; nobody came. So he decided to finetune his concept: he served the same wine as in the film Sideways and the people at his table clinked glasses at exactly the same moment as on the screen. What you see is what you drink. This turned out to be a success. So much of a success that in 2013, he and his wife Wies launched Cinema Culinair. There are now several locations in cities including Utrecht, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Antwerpen and Gent.
Belly pork and lava cake
The people next to us laugh. ‘It’s tricky when you can’t see what you’re eating!’, says the man opposite. At the head of the long tables, waiters have placed plates with the first course for the guests to pass along. Once everyone has a plate, we wait for the clock on the screen to tell us when we can start eating.
So as the main character in the film gumbo tucks into andouille sausage, a spicy pork stew, so do we. The man was right. It is difficult to see what’s on your plate in the dark. I had to surrender control over what I was eating, as I hadn’t really studied the menu beforehand.
The film Chef is funny. It’s a feelgood movie from 2014 that tells the story of chef Carl Caspers, played by Jon Favreau, who’s looking for a new job after being fired from a restaurant in Los Angeles. He goes to Miami, converts a lorry into a Cuban food truck helped by his best friend and son, and rediscovers his passion for cooking and life.
The pork sausage is followed by Korean chicken and while we’re piling up our empty plates, we’re served belly pork with pumpkin cream and coriander. It’s a lot of meat. Particularly as there is no chips or salad to go with it (just like in the film). Then, as Carl in the film is explaining the difference between an undercooked cake and a real lava cake to a critical journalist, we get chocolate lava cake too. ‘Pudding already?’, I ask my table companions, who are also looking slightly dazed. Combined with the meat dishes we’ve just had, it doesn’t really appeal. I skipped this sweet course.
Food truck phenomenon
We chat to one of the other couples at our table during the break. Then it’s time for round two. On screen, chef Carl is doing his best on a worldwide food truck phenomenon: the cubano. At the same time, we’re served: a dense baguette sandwich with marinated pork shoulder, bacon rashers, cheese, ham, gherkins and mustard. I sneakily remove as much meat as I can from my sandwich. Then there’s another sweet dish: tiny beignet pastry puffs filled with pineapple and topped with cream. The What you see is what you eat concept is certainly a culinary rollercoaster. Only to be expected, I suppose, as we’re not following the logic of a traditional meal, but the logic of the film itself. And that can be intense. When we’re confronted with marinated, smoked beef after the sweet puffs, my stomach turns.
My husband and I chat about the evening while biking home. We had a great time, and we should have known that a film about a Cuban food truck involves mountains of meat. We’ll go for the vegetarian option next time!
Location: Werkspoorkathedraal
Lees in het Nederlands
Over dit artikel
text:
Nathalie de Graaf
images:
Jerome Sarneel, Serena Arendsen
Publication date:
9 March 2026
Magazine edition:
UITagenda Utrecht maart 2026
