5 of London’s most immersive food and drink venues

Big Bake is all about bringing baking to the nation. Say goodbye to stuffy and expensive cooking schools: this place welcomes everybody to their award-winning classes. Here, it’s all about competing with friends and family in a bake-off style tent to see who can come out on top. All the ingredients are ready and prepped for you, and you’ll have an expert baker by your side as you go head-to-head in creating something show-stopping. Ninety minutes to whisk, roll, and drizzle your way towards a winning bake? Sounds like our kind of fun.

With its completely ‘back to nature’ ethos, dining at Forage and Feast is an experience like no other. Over a six-hour course, you’ll be taught how to forage for your own food by knowledgeable, professional foragers who know their inedible from their edible. You will first learn all about identification, before harvesting a range of wild ingredients for yourself. Lunch is seasonal, so you’ll be eating whatever is growing around the area at the time. The vegan-friendly lunches have previously included knotweed jam with acorn sourdough, dandelion-root coffee cake, and nettle cordial! After the event, you will be sent an email with a description of the edibles found during the forage, and relevant recipes.

It doesn’t really get more immersive than the afternoon tea at the Wands and Wizards Exploratorium! Have an afternoon of fun at their brand-new interactive tea-brewing experience, where you step into the imagined worlds of your childhood through the subtle science of tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. After selecting your magic wand, you will be led to an interactive workstation where you cast spells to control your tea stand and unlock the puzzle chess, which contains your food. During your time at the Exploratorium, you will brew two different types of teas, the first of which focuses on transfiguration and the second has been designed to encourage experimentation to find the perfect blend for your palette. Optional add-ons include a pot of blossoming tea, a signature molecular cocktail, and a drink summoned from the mouth of a unicorn with your magic wand. Sounds enchanting!

Have you ever watched a musical and felt you might quite like to join in with the cast? Well now you can! At West End Musical Brunch, the audience are also the cast, so prepare to warm-up your vocal cords. As you enjoy a bottomless brunch, you’ll rub shoulders with some of the West End’s leading stars. Previous guests have included cast members from Wicked, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Lion King, and Hamilton. There’s one hour of bottomless drinks, and a knock-out two-course brunch meal to enjoy alongside it: after all, you’re going to need some fuel for all that dancing and singing. Croissants, eggs, granola pots, you name it, there’s something for everyone. Every event is completely different, but what is guaranteed is some out-and-out fun. Dress code is West End glam. Sign us up!

This immersive – and highly sensory – experience is all about taste, touch, feel, and sound. Regularly ranked among the 10 most original restaurants in the world, here you’ll be dining in complete darkness. An ‘original experience that allows you to re-evaluate your perception of taste’, throughout your meal, you will be presented with surprise dishes cooked using quality ingredients. Without being able to see your food, every flavour, aroma, and texture, will be heightened, and it won’t be until after your meal that the dish will be revealed to you. Don’t worry though, it’s not all gimmicks: the food here is truly top-notch, prepared by incredibly talented chefs, and served by blind waiters and waitresses! For a night of guaranteed fun and intrigue with friends, a partner, or even alone, look no further.