Sugar Mountain: Jesse Gerner

For the first time, there'll be an on-site restaurant at Sugar Mountain: Sensory. It will be an immersive experience for all the senses that combines food from Bomba, a soundtrack by Cut Copy, and visuals from Tin & Ed. We chat to Bomba chef/owner Jesse Gerner about it.

For someone who's a fan of music, art and food, Sensory sounds like a dream. It's a really exciting concept - can you let us in on how the idea came about?

When Sugar Mountain came to us to explore the sensory concept my first thought was of these nights at The Aylesbury (now Bomba Bar) called Molecular Mondays — we'd play around with really out there artistic techniques but also bring in some cheeky elements. Sensory is a progression of those nights, a way to bring the experience off the plate and into the room.

Can you tell us something interesting you've learned about the relationship between food, sight and sound that the average food-lover might not know?

At Moro in London we'd wear blindfolds and put a peg over our noses to taste different ingredients — it really helped us appreciate how eating is a full sensory experience.

What sticks out as your most experimental experience with food?

Travelling through Olot, in the Catalan Pyrenees, we ate breakfast of deep fried intestines, ostrich eggs, liver, vermouth — it seems pretty crazy to an Australian palate but it's the traditional Catalan way to start the day!

What do you think the next drink trend will be?

Aperitivo hour. Late afternoon or early evening, drinking vermouth while grazing on tapas; it's a way of life in Spain and it's going to really take off in Australia now.

Which act/band on the Sugar Mountain line-up do you wanna have a meal with and why?

We'd definitely take the crew from Hot Chip back to the Bomba Rooftop. They get a pretty solid run on our restaurant playlist, I think we could shout them a couple of Negronis!