Modern Restaurant Tables

I like reading lists that talk about “the best of”: the best beaches, the best chocolate, the best restaurants. Admittedly, most of these lists are subjective, based on the writer’s own personal preference or experience. But I think they’re fun to read and to learn from. Just like Anya von Bremzen’s list of the Best New Restaurants of 2007, published in the travel section of CNN’s web site.

While the article doesn’t really focus at all on restaurant furniture, like indoor lighting or bistro area chairs, it does describe somewhat the appearance and configuration of restaurant tables. For instance, a restaurant called Sensing in Paris, France, has what she calls blond sycamore tables. At a restaurant called Three, One, Two in Melbourne, Australia, the tables are white-napped while those at the Rockpool Bar & Grill in the same city have a spotted-gum design. At the Lung King Heen restaurant in Hong Kong, the tables are swathed in damask. Meanwhile, the tables at the Guy Savoy restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, have more than ample space between them to “plot a casino-vault heist.”

Here are the restaurants mentioned in the article, according to location:

• Barcelona, Spain: Tapaç 24; Mondo; Lasarte

• Tokyo, Japan: Tofuya Ukai; Shunju Tsugihagi; Hinokiya

• Los Angeles, USA: Cut; Providence; Macau Street

• Paris, France: Sensing; Le Chateaubriand;

• Las Vegas, USA: Guy Savoy; Robuchon at the Mansion

• Montreal, Canada: Joe Beef; L’Atelier

• Melbourne, Australia: Three, One, Two; Rockpool Bar & Grill

• Hong Kong, China: Pierre; Lung King Heen

Many of these restaurants are located in upscale hotels. It seems like all they are fine-dining destinations, not really places where you can enjoy a quick meal or drink in your flip-flops and jeans. I probably won’t be eating at any of them in the foreseeable future, but it’s still nice to read about them and imagine what kind of ambiance and cuisine they provide.