FINE DINING AND HIGH END KITCHENS 18/11/2012

I have heard of  fine dining  which means you pay an exorbitant  amount not so much for the quality of food served but for the ambience provided  and  service  rendered   at  five, six  and seven star  hotels. I still remember  the sight of masala dosa, looking limp and  pale served with stale coconut chutney when I visited one of these hotels along with my husband some years ago. I have  seen apartments and independent houses with open kitchens which include dining space which has its own advantages. But what  came as a surprise to me  was an article titled ‘The kitchen that ate the house’ sent by one of my cousins based  there. Intrigued by the title I patiently went through it  and a thought ran in my mind  that a time may come  when leading  architects in our country would  emulate their counterparts  and allocate major space in posh  houses  for  high end  kitchens where inmates will be tempted to spend more time  eating!

Here is an  excerpt from the article :  ‘Earlier this year, builder/architect Mohamed Hadid put the final touches on a 5,000-square-foot space in Beverly Hills, Calif., with whitewashed oak and limestone floors, hand-carved crystal chandeliers, two flat-screen televisions, a dining table that can seat 16 and a large couch overlooking a sleek gas fireplace. The space, which opens to manicured gardens outside, isn’t a new estate home. It’s a kitchen.

Long the de facto central gathering space of the home, the kitchen has ballooned in size in recent years to become the new great room. At the highest end, some are over 3,000 square feet, outfitted with walk-in refrigeration rooms, multiple seating areas, wet bars and fireplaces, with fixtures and décor intentionally designed to look like hip living rooms. In some cases, much of the actual cooking is being relegated to a second, smaller kitchen space, so that the main kitchen can be used for entertaining—minus the unsavory dirty dishes or—–’

 

n.meera raghavendra rao