Tasteful skills and imagination
Two Danish chefs and event makers are serving up culinary experiences and transcending boundaries in events revolving around the meal as a social act. Have a taste of the I’m a KOMBO universe, which is driven by dedication, ambition and creative innovation.
Exposing your senses to a culinary experience created by I’m a KOMBO will open a door to a new, magical world that you are going to want to keep revisiting. And that is exactly what the two entrepreneurs hope to achieve.
Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov are both traditionally trained chefs, and they have worked in trend-setting restaurants where they have come to master the techniques and the craft to perfection. After many diversions, a huge personal drive to explore the potentials of food and of the meal in a new way eventually led to a friendship and to the culinary partnership I’m a KOMBO.
Behind the playful name is an innovative food workshop that goes far beyond the commonplace in its approach to event catering, private dining and gastronomical concept development. I’m a KOMBO also hosts the semi-annual culinary event The Social Act, where Bo Lindegaard, Lasse Askov and their equally dedicated team test new ideas, formats and interactions around a shared meal.
‘We consider ourselves to be part of modern gastronomy. However, we continuously question its boundaries. It is our ambition to create a new social space where food becomes a social brick more than mere nutrition.’
– Bo Lindegaard & Lasse Askov
Hence the transformative nature of an I’m a KOMBO meal, which always stands out from the commonplace with its novel presentation, flavours and format. This is exquisite gastronomy but stripped of the refined and elevated.
Vertical buffet. Photo: Oscar Meyer.
One of the taste sensations from The Social Act this fall: the world’s best croutons according to I’m a KOMBO. Below the leaves is a soup made on caramelised pumpkin and mussel juice.
Humour is a persistent element in everything I’m a KOMBO does. For example, this year’s takeaway menu for New Year’s Eve features popcorn tacos for dessert.
‘To define and emphasize the rhythm of our meal we have developed core values or keynotes. They are formulated by 9 words: Function, Surprise, Interaction, Form, Contrast, Comfort, Innovation, Theft and Fun. Words each of which represents a fundamental part of the meal. When combined, they create the specific course and rhythm of the meal to finally establish a new social space.’ – I’m a KOMBO manifest.
Nibble Shop was designed by OeO Studio, which has created an inspiring, colourful and sensuous setting for I’m a KOMBO’s innovative creations. Both the 7-metre-long counter and the back wall are crafted from Douglas planks from Dinesen’s Douglas collection.
Natural and blue coloured Douglas.
Nibble Shop carries leading culinary magazines from all over the world as well as carefully selected art and design objects. A tangible reflection of Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov’s far-reaching passion for food and their desire to seek inspiration while at the same time being a source of inspiration for others. Photo: Oscar Meyer.
Unpretentiousness as a key ingredient
Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov want to open all our senses. Enable direct and immediate sensory experiences, curiosity and social interactions. In their interpretation and presentation, the meal becomes a catalyst for an unpretentious journey through flavours contrasts and personal meetings. The main intention is for the diners to have fun and enjoy their time together, and therefore the meal always has a strong playful aspect.
‘When planning a meal, we often think of crazy fun childhood memories and strive to create a landscape by taste and interaction to evoke these memories. We present the base of a cake and its accessories like fruit, whipped cream and sprinkles. Guests are instructed to make their own communal cakes individually or together. By inspiring guest’s imagination we introduce a humorous and unpretentious aspect to the meal.’
– Bo Lindegaard & Lasse Askov
By evoking childhood memories, the meal and the format come together to create a new memorable experience around the table – or wherever the meal is served, because nothing is given when you are in the company of I’m a KOMBO.
Nibble Shop
I’m a KOMBO’s ambition of transcending boundaries and transforming our dining experience takes on tangible form in the physical setting of the food workshop.
Instead of a restaurant, Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov have opened Nibble Shop in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking district, ‘Kødbyen’. At first glance, the outlet looks like a small shop selling top-of-the-line international culinary magazines as well as hand-picked art and design objects related to food. At second glance, one might see aspects of an office, a library, a cafe, a meeting place and a stage for The Social Act, which takes place here twice a year.
Nibble Shop is as far removed from a restaurant as one can imagine, in order to break free from the narrative, rules, expectations and limitations associated with the restaurant setting. At events such as The Social Act, the kitchen and the rough back yard are included in an unpretentious experience that revolves around innovation and being focused and present in the moment – and where the diners may suddenly find themselves at a vertical buffet or an Asian street kitchen created for the occasion. Thus, Nibble Shop is an inspiring and variable universe that is transformed to match whatever I’m a KOMBO gets up to.
The location in ‘Kødbyen’ was deliberately chosen because it is a district that matches I’m a KOMBO’s dedication to diversity and variation on multiple levels.
‘We believe in trespassing and conquering new fields of experience. To ease that process we produce and expand from the meatpacking district in the centre of Copenhagen. It is a neighborhood of variety, diversity and new social encounters.’
– Bo Lindegaard & Lasse Askov
After years of preliminary explorations and experiments, the two friends and partners have a clear shared ambition: continuously rethinking and developing the meal as a social act. Because it makes sense for them on a personal level, because they see how it brings people together in a meaningful community, and because they hope to inspire the next generation of chefs to explore new territory.
