Like the eponymous musician, Sjim is an artist too, and a guitarist at that, but he is mainly known for his talent as a chef and “food idealist”. [N.A!] began supporting him in 2016 at the Basel academy. Last Saturday at Espace 365 in Saint-Denis, Sjim served up a performance dinner of art and cuisine. The colourful menu was an artistic composition of organic flowers, vegetables and fruit grown at Zone Sensible, plus fish and meat carefully chosen from the local market in Saint-Denis.
Dishes included a Pollock-inspired starter of thinly sliced beetroot sprinkled with flowers and delicately seasoned with a verbena sauce, raw mullet in an amaranth crust, thin strips of veal heart with fennel seeds grilled at the table on hot stones from the farm, and corn on the cob cooked inside whole pumpkins barbecued until golden. Not only were these original concoctions and combinations a huge success with all the guests, they also inspired ideas for future performance dinners in other venues. Congratulations to Sjim for his talent and sensitivity.