The Nakamura.ke Mobile Kitchen first popped up in Atlanta slinging bowls of glow-in-the-dark ramen and an immersive experience to patrons. The experience which is steeped in folklore, ritual history, and food had made its way to Los Angeles and we had chance to chat by email with Romy Maloon, one of the people who conceptualized the experience for Dashboard.
This interview has been edited for length.
No Proscenium (NP): What is Nakamura.ke Mobile Kitchen?
Romy Maloon (RM): The world’s FIRST glow-in-the-dark ramen shop.
The Nakamura.ke Mobile Kitchen is a mobile dining experience showcasing high-end glow-in-the-dark food and cocktails created by award-winning chefs and designers.
Unlike a typical bar or club, the Nakamura.ke {House of Nakamura} is a totally immersive dining experience including theatrics, storytelling, art, and folklore.
NP: Why are you interested in telling this story now?
RM: We have been thinking about the disconnect between generations in Tokyo society. It feels like the younger generation is not as interested in their elder’s folklore. It feels like the youth is missing an education. However both groups young and old, share a love of ramen. Food is a connection between family and ancestry. When traveling you go to local restaurants to learn more about a culture. It tells the story of a place. It’s a physical connection with this yokai spirit family and subsequently all of our ancestry and ritual history.
NP: Why did you create this experience? What inspired you?
RM: The whole story of Nakamrua.ke is about honoring the spirits of our ancestors by imbuing the glowing ramen imbued with their spirit. We love the idea that we are honoring this grand tradition by eating this food and drink.
NP: You’ve got a unique venue in Los Angeles at Yamashiro, how did that come about?
RM: In every city Nakamura.ke travels to, we partner with different restaurants, organizations, brands, and venues to execute everything at the highest possible quality and make sure we are engaging with the local food scene and community.
I had been a long time fan of Disco Dining Club, a thematic food and drink event company that revels in all the excess, debauchery, and hedonism of disco. I had been trying to figure out a project that Dashboard and DDC could do together. When I reached out to their creator Courtney Nichols, she was so lovely and enthusiastic, I knew it would be a great partnership.
Courtney is very well-connected in the immersive food, theater, and chef community. She put us in contact with Yamashiro’s event team. They are interested in doing unique pop-ups, and when we met they sounded equally enthusiastic to bring Nakamura.ke there; plus we were absolutely starry eyed by the insane skyline views and 110+ year old Japanese building! They actually have a 600 year old pagoda, flown in from Japan, it is currently the oldest structure in California. Yamashiro has such a wonderful old Hollywood vibe mixed with contemporary Japanese food and beverage it was the perfect marriage.
NP: How is the venue incorporated into the experience?
RM: Yamashiro is integral to the Los Angeles chapter of the Nakamura.ke experience. We don’t want to give too much away, but guests will get to view a typically off-limits area of the antique restaurant as they are brought to the Nakamura.ke Mobile Kitchen.
Plus we have Disco Dining Club planning three opening parties in conjunction on July 4, 5, and 6! These will use the mountain-side pool and heirloom architecture of Yamashiro as a perfect setting. Disco and Dashboard are also creating Yomi’s Saloon, a pop up speakeasy taking place every night of Nakamura.ke dinner service in the upstairs bar of Yamashiro’s Kencho Tea House. The speakeasy’s name is derived from the Japanese word for the underworld and will welcome both guests of Nakamura.ke and Yamashiro to a clandestine bar of sinful titillation. Invoking the spirit of the gods, Yomi’s Saloon with feature signature cocktails, eclectic programming, and ornate design to transport guests into the lavish life of the dead. Yomi’s Saloon will be a nightly lounge programmed by DDC.
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NP: Adding food into immersive theatre isn’t something that happens all that often, but is an idea that seems ripe with possibility. What made you decide to focus on food?
RM: The food actually came first. The idea for glow-in-the-dark ramen came to Ami Sueki, founder of Zoo as Zoo, in a dream. But she didn’t want guests to just be fascinated by the appearance of the food, she wanted them to be invested in it’s creation. So she crafted the Nakamura.ke folklore to support the food in a way that would tap into guests’ senses beyond just taste and sight. Everything from the actors to the decorations are rooted in the story from the beginning of the experience until the very end, so the moment guests step into Nakamura.ke they’re transported into another world, and the souls of our guests are connected to the soul of the experience.
NP: Does the service of food play into the performance?
RM: We like to think that the food is the performance. The folklore goes that the Nakamura family, a family of yokai, mysteriously lost their parents. After reuniting to their family’s Ramen shop to commemorate them, everything started pulsing and glowing, they realized the food and drink had been imbued with the spirits of their ancestors. The idea is that the more this Ramen kitchen travels around the world, and the more people eat it, the more we are honoring the spirits of their, and subsequently our, ancestors.
NP: How is the audience incorporated into the work? What kinds of choices can the participants make?
RM: The audience is an integral part of the experience. The tale goes that the more this glowing food and drink is imbibed, the more honor we are bringing to the Nakamura family, and the more honor to our and their ancestors. Guests get to choose their selection of ramen, of which we have three, one of which can be made vegan, all of which can be modified for dietary restrictions. They also select their glowing cocktail they have inside of the mobile kitchen.
NP: There are two different tickets, can you explain the difference between them?
RM: For the Los Angeles Chapter of Nakamura.ke we added more seats so we could expand the experience for a larger audience. “Omotenashi” VIP Chef Experience, is Kappo style service, a style of dining where a chef prepares the meal directly in front of counter-dwelling guests, displaying their masterful knife skills and cooking techniques. This is the experience inside the container it seats 6 guests at a time.
The “Tachigui” Ramen Bar Experience is our exterior ramen bar under our decorated awning. Tachigui is the traditional Japenese form of standing bar dining, stools will be available for those uncomfortable with this traditional style. Tachigui Experience seats nine (9) people at a time; thus, guests may purchase up to 9 tickets per time slot.
NP: How are you designing around audience agency, consent, and safety?
RM: When guests buy tickets to Nakamura.ke they are asked if they have mobility issues so we can plan accordingly. The mobile kitchen is ADA accessible. Also, in our explanation to the guest of what they will experience we mention that they will be sitting close to one another.
NP: Who is the ideal audience member for this show?
RM: The ideal audience member for this show is anyone who loves food and is not afraid of the unknown.
Nakamura.ke has seen a wide range of guests, but the Nakamuras are especially fond of the weirdest, wildest, and hungriest souls, of course.
NP: What do you hope participants take away from the experience?
RM: I hope they will take with them a sense of possibilities. That they have experienced something that cannot be recreated or with a connection a reflection of their own heritage and part of a group of yakai spirit. Suspension of disbelief.
NP: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background in the immersive arts?
RM: This is a collaboration of global artists that come together to produce this project. We come from various organizations. We are part of creative agencies, restaurants, fabricators, performers. We come together to make Nakamura.ke.
Nakamura.ke runs July 3–21 on select days and times. Tickets are available here.
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