What’s the difference between a dégustation and a tasting menu?

There is no difference between a tasting menu and a degustation. Dégustation is simply the French term for a tasting menu. Both refer to a series of small dishes that allow you to sample a chef’s signature cooking style, a restaurant’s speciality, or a type of cuisine. 

Does a dégustation menu get served individually? 

Yes! Each individual at the dining table will be served 12 dishes to explore and enjoy on their own. No fighting for food!

What’s a good occasion for a dégustation?

Not sure if a dégustation is the right choice for your event? Book a dégustation whenever you want an extended fine-dining meal that’s luxurious and sure to impress every guest at the table. It could be an anniversary, romantic dinner, birthday, or loving gift to someone close to you. 

Dégustations are great for special occasions with family or friends, for wine-lovers, or for newlyweds. They’re elaborate food experiences that make eating fun, interactive, and intriguing. You and your fellow diners will enjoy a steady stream of food and have the chance to chat about each dish as it comes out, exploring the range of flavours and sensations. 

You don’t have to worry about choosing what’s on the menu when it comes to a dégustation. The chef will typically showcase his specialities over several courses. You can expect an exceptional meal that’ll last on the palate as well as the memory. Of course, with CHEFIN there’s always the opportunity to input your own special ideas, favoured cuisines, and ingredients you’d like to see on the plates.

What you can eat at the world’s best dégustations

Want to know what kind of food you can expect at a dégustation? World-class chefs around the world are renowned for their tasting menus, and it’s a feature at almost every Michelin-starred restaurant. Here are just some exquisite meals you can get as part of a dégustation at the world’s top restaurants. 

• Test Kitchen, Cape Town: Amongst the 12-course dégustation you can find such dishes like home-dried tomato with sesame and eggplant puree and smoked goats cheese mousse; African beet rosti with Amai curd, wood-fired onion stock and quail egg; and barbecued broccoli with blue cheese and salt-baked celeriac with smoked red onion foam. 
• Dinner, London: This Heston Blumenthal restaurant features a dégustation with traditional English delicacies like chicken oysters served with marrow bone and horseradish,  savoury porridge with frog’s legs, or powdered duck breast with blood pudding. 
• Minibar, Washington DC: With more than 20 dishes, this dégustation is one of the most elaborate you can find. Dishes include sweet BBQ eel cocooned in peppery cotton candy and ‘dragon’s breath’ frozen popcorn that makes the diner’s mouth steam. For dessert, there’s coconut milk ice cream with frozen peanut powder and lemongrass-tamarind gelee. 
• Saison, San Francisco: This intimate restaurant has a playful menu with dégustation dishes changing every night. Some dishes you might be served include foie gras toffee, oyster leaf with cream, and thin slices of aged beef with soy vinaigrette. 
• Guy Savoy, Paris: Officially the world’s most expensive dégustation, this 18-course feast includes dishes like razor clams with lemon and sweet garlic puree, caviar with green asparagus and a smoked sabayon egg, and lobster served in its shell with a cooked heart of palm. 

The concept of a dégustation, or tasting menu, dates way back to Ancient Greek times. In those days, it was common for royals at the Pantheon to feast on several smaller dishes in an attempt to appease the multitude of gods. It was thought that each Greek god had their own favourite dish, and one had to dine on each of those dishes in order to please them. The Ancient Romans were also known for their large degustation-style feasts, as the civilisation was known for its love of gluttony and indulgence. 

In the 9th century England, small inns on the travel route between London and Newmarket were known to serve dégustation-style meals that highlighted the best a restaurant had to offer. The reason behind serving smaller dishes was that they were lighter and more easily digestible for travellers than a large, heavy meal. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was popular for the elite to consume anywhere from 12-20 courses in a single meal. This was considered to be the height of sophistication and grandeur at the time, and a showcase of wealth and opulence. 

However, the closest thing to a dégustation as we know it today is the dishes served by great French chef George-Auguste Escoffier, who cooked for Europe’s nobility and had restaurants in both London and Paris Ritz Hotels. Escoffier’s job was to impress the wealthiest and most elite residents of Europe, and he did so by drowning them in great food. He would typically start serving his dégustations in the evening, pacing out the courses until diners left in the early hours of the morning.