THE TABLE India
20 November
The Table, is a café in the historic downtown area of Mumbai, near the Gateway of India, and the Arabian Sea. The design intent was to create a tranquil, timeless restaurant space using handcrafted materials with design references to Victorian Bombay and the old restaurants that were a feature of the area.
The function of the restaurant dictates its plan. One enters a double-height space stepping on to a dramatic, Chevron patterned black and white hand-chissled “silk” stone floor, an abstraction of the diagonal star patterned restaurant floor. Pendant skirt lights add accents to the space.
The double height space is inspired by the seven arches of the historic streets that intersect at the Table. These arches wrap around from the outside of the building to the inside, changing from a stucco Malad stone color to a black hand chiseled Kadappa stone with the horizontal bands carrying themselves into the space. Tall French doors between the arches announce the entrance – the mullions of these follow the bands of the stone arches too – so bringing the outside inside.
Complementing the floor pattern, the wall separating the kitchen from the bar is made of white marble hand-chiselled with Mother of Pearl inlays.
The restaurant is an orchestration of bold strokes of form pattern and color, complemented by natural light – gleaming black Roman arches draped with beige sheers, a Chevron floor, a long Cross Cut Burma Teak table, a Floating Mezzanine with musical notes – all working together to create a site specific sculpted space, a Bombay style California inspired wine bar.