Cinema loves food because food is cinematic. You’ve seen Boiling Point, The Menu, Burnt. The sounds of a kitchen – chopping, boiling, stirring, tasting – lend themselves to a familiar yet exciting auditory experience. Presented well, food is a visual experience. Crisp table linens, sparkling silver wear and the clink of a crystal glass are something to be savoured; gazed on lovingly by both the camera and its audience.
But what about a dining experience that offers something entirely different? What about a restaurant in a Greenlandic settlement (population circa 50 people) with views of ice-laden oceans? And what if that restaurant already existed in the verdant hills of the Faroe Islands and was being re-built over eleven hundred miles away?
That is the focus of Ole Juncker’s documentary, The Most Remote Restaurant in the World. It follows the team at Koks, lead by chef and visionary Poul Andrias Ziska, who achieved two Michelin stars for his Faroe Islands rendering of the restaurant, as they shut down one venue and open another. Johannes Jensen, the owner of Koks (as well as multiple hotels and restaurants), suggests that Ilimanaq would be the ideal location for a dining experience dedicated to local cuisine. “Success is the only option so … I’m optimistic,” Poul Andrias asserts, as his team of twenty one embark on a new way of life and work.
The camerawork feels hand-held and borderline intrusive, with short, sharp edits underlining the speed at which a kitchen must work (and, in fact, how quickly this new site must come together). Tensions and frustrations permeate the film as Poul Andrias arrives in Ilimanaq to realise his kitchen extension has not been built and that there no running water or supply of electricity has been planned for the new venture. Despite coming from the Faroe Islands – a place surely not known for its rapid city-slicker pace – the easy going nature of Ilimanaq feels like complete body shock. This is a problem for a venue and a team that already has 1500 pre-bookings, despite requiring a plane and a boat to be reached.
And it’s not just the building work. Turning on an oven for the first time causes a power outage in the entire settlement. The water supply is put in at the very last minute, only to flood the place. Food doesn’t arrive, meaning we see the team attempt to go seal shooting in order to secure supplies. “Greenland … where everything that could go wrong, is going wrong,” Poul Andrias shrugs, “And everything that couldn’t go wrong … is also going wrong.”
In amongst the catastrophes, Juncker also captures the passion that ripples through the Koks team. Karen Visth was giving birth at 1.30pm and by 5pm she is back on her emails, confirming reservations. The chefs prod and taste and experiment with halibut and salmon; ptarmigan and musk ox; shrimps and narwhal. They are in “nature’s freezer” and the sustainability of their locally sourced menu is important to them. “It’s like you’re twelve and you’re seeing boobs for the first time,” one chef emotes, “We’re in the middle of nowhere, making something pretty amazing.”
The way of life on this remote settlement is also a little under the microscope. Some locals worry that the restaurant will be far too expensive for them to ever afford to eat there (the twenty-two-course tasting menu comes in at around DKK 10,000). The Koks team take part in a National Day celebration in a community hall so that locals can get to know them instead of being seen as a “circus”. There is also a rather visceral dissection of a Greenland whale, complete with bloodied intestines and weighty slabs of meat being tossed onto blood-soaked snow. It may be unsettling for some viewers, but for the locals, it is a source of income and, for the restaurant, food.
As opening night occurs, the camera pours lovingly over beautifully carved dark wood tables and flooring, cosy furs and an unexpected abundance of natural daylight. Dish after dish is seen in close-up – sauces and micro-herbs and finishing touches all gazed upon – as the team struggle to get into gear and serve the right dishes to the right tables in the right order. The pressure is still there, but there is something to show for it. You almost feel like collapsing in exhaustion with the team.
The Most Remote Restaurant in the World highlights a dining experience. Not just enjoying a locally sourced meal at the ends of the earth, but all of the passion and ambition that such a project requires. It’s a thoroughly engaging watch for foodies and lovers of fantastical landscapes.
The Most Remote Restaurant in the World is available now over on the US Viaplay streaming platform.