2 World Class Restaurants Who Prefer Classic White Tablecloths (and 1 who bucks the trend)
They say style never goes out of fashion. In the service industry, fashions change as quickly as anywhere else, but the best establishments in the world retain their class, and their look. They have established such elegance that passing trends are not enough to change it.
In many people’s opinion, the best places to drink in Britain are still traditional pubs - maybe even a bit rough around the edges, with faded pictures and a mix of non-uniform bar stools and chairs. Maybe a dog sniffing around dinners’ meals! Some of these pubs are being replaced by trendier bars, but many are still going strong and retain the charm that has made them successful for generations.
The same goes for restaurants. For all the prevalence of fast food restaurants and chain ‘gastro-pubs’, the best restaurants have retained their character, and in many cases have also retained a staple of that classic charm dating back to the refinery of Victorian days; white and ivory tablecloths.
The Fat Duck – Bray (Heston Blumenthal)
The Fat Duck is run by ‘food scientist’ Heston Blumenthal, who has made the place a 3 Michelin starred restaurant since it opened in 1995.
Figure 1: Fat Duck Dining Room
The restaurant is famous for its weird and wonderful dishes, and food experimentation. One of its most famous is Bacon and Egg Ice Cream (…yumyum?!). They also use audio to complement some of their dishes, for example ‘sounds of the sea’ to go with seafood dishes. Perhaps most strangely, The Fat Duck does a mock turtle soup which includes a pocket watch dissolved in tea! The idea is part of the Alice in Wonderland themed menu, to represent the moment when the hare dips the hatter’s pocket watch in his tea. (Actually, Heston’s pocket watch is made from a mix of gelatine and stock, wrapped in edible gold leaf – but it looks very believable).
Despite all this experimentation, The Fat Duck still sticks with classic white tablecloths. Let’s just hope they don’t try and put them in the cooking one day..
Le Gavroche – Mayfair, London (Michel Roux Jr.)
Chef Michel Roux Jr.’s father (also named, as you might have guessed, Michel Roux), opened Le Gavroche in 1967 (at a different location in Lower Sloane Street – they moved premises in 1981). The name Gavroche comes from the character of that name in Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Miserable’. Gavroche is a street urchin in Paris during the difficult times in which the story is set. He is always cold and hungry and looking for a nice cosy place to eat and relax. The restaurant is supposed to represent his dream place to do those things. (As long as he could afford their ‘menu exceptional with wine’ at £180 per person!)
Figure 2: Le Gavroche
Le Gavroche is in every way a classic restaurant – classical French cooking, a bar that could have been pulled straight out of 1920s Paris, and classic ivory tablecloths that suit the traditional environment as much as they suit Heston’s ultra-modern one at The Fat Duck.
Le Chateau de Joël Robuchon – Yebisu Garden Palace, Tokyo (Joël Robuchon)
In 1989 Robuchon was called "Chef of the Century" by the Gault Millau guide. Not a bad accolade. His 3 Michelin starred restaurant in Tokyo prefers black tablecloths to white. Black tablecloths still speak refinery, but also have a modern edge which is appropriate for such a modern city as Tokyo. Nowhere combines class and tradition with super-modernism like Tokyo does, and Robuchon’s restaurant encapsulates all of those things.
Figure 3: Le Chateau de Joël Robuchon Dining
To add to the elegance of the black tablecloths, the restaurant lays touches such as delicate jewels and flowers around on the cloth. The cuisine style is a mix of Japanese and French, to match the style of the décor. Perhaps the sleek, understated colouring of blacks is a nice antidote to all those crazy neon lights outside!
Written by Juliet Wood. The Towel Shop residential Copywriter. You can follow her on Google+ or leave a comment below for a response to this article.