PREFER A QUICK READ?
- Rohini Gomez Braganza
- October 13, 2020
- 2:12 pm
ARTICLE CONTENTS
PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS
Project: The Bombay Canteen, TBC
Type: Resto-bar
Location: Kamala mills, Mumbai, India
Architecture Firm: The Busride Design Studio, founded by renowned restaurant designers, brothers Ayaz and Zameer Basrai
Portfolio: Over 150 restaurant designs across India and overseas
Design Team: Ayaz Basrai, Zameer Basrai, Pranali Patel and Debanil Pramanik
Design co-articulated with: Co founders Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage, and late chef Floyd Cardoz and chef Thomas Zacharias
Restaurant: 3190 Sq. ft.
Service Area: 1085 Sq. ft.
Seating Capacity: 88 Pax
Furniture: Designed by The Busride Design Studio
Duration of execution: 100 days
A VISIT TO A RESTAURANT IN THE MILLENIAL ERA
A visit to a restaurant in today’s day and age, is about creating memories through an emotional and experiential journey. In the millennial era, the process of devouring scrumptious cuisines takes its course over good company, great music, whilst immersed in an uplifting ambience. Over lip-smacking platters, celebrations commence, deals come to a close, courtships feel better connected, giggles break or tears shed, and so much more. What they all have in common is that the magic indeed happens at no other communal space, but a restaurant. We are part of an age where restaurant patronising is part of our lifestyle and culture, and its frequency is more now than what it used to be back in the day. Our demands for a better experiential package goes beyond the cuisine or its presentation.
Have we ever wondered, what goes behind creating a restaurant that especially appeals to the millennial generation?
Well-rated restaurants consider the holistic picture where the overall “guest experience” matters. Various elements have a stronghold in this experience, including the aesthetic ambience, the aromas, the music, the service, the circumambient vibe, and off-course the food & drink. What “makes” a restaurant, does not entirely depend on one or the other of these elements, and none have any precedence over the other in terms of importance. It is in fact about the nature of their cohesion and how well they bind, that defines a restaurant’s fate.
One particular multi-award winning Resto-bar located in Mumbai India, has this entire checklist ticked off. Its message is vividly loud and clear, to virtually transport its customers to the timeless nostalgia of old 60s Bombay we all knew about. A place where canteens were the social hubs to rendezvous and initiate casual conversations with friends, over shared platters of delicious city favorites and garam chai. Patently called ‘the Bombay Canteen’, this Resto-bar is indeed the talk of the town with its happening take on reliving the city’s culinary legacy.
Restaurant design is only a fragment of what makes a restaurant well-rated. Having a comprehensive understanding of the ownership’s motive, a solid theme, and an in-depth insight of the proposed cuisine, enables a designer to set the right stage in synergy with the kitchen.
Over a broad picture the designer also needs to virtually experience every nook and cranny of the space and get into the microdetails of its services, or circulation, lighting or how amplified the music needs to be etc. These aspects play a big role in how the restaurant is going to be experienced eventually.
What defines the personality of ‘the Bombay Canteen’, that makes it the culinary and hospitality epicentre of an overpopulated metropolis?
Let us start from the very beginning.
THE PRE-EXISTING CANVAS
The restaurant is immersed in the city’s rich industrial past, where neighboring vestiges of old mill structures appear challenged by so-called “contemporary” glass high-rises, rebelling in the name of progress. The pre-existing structure in the thick of this rage, appeared haunted in a way that it actually gained the design team’s better attention to include it into the scheme. The property also came with immense volume and floor space, posing as a fantastically versatile canvas to work upon.
THE WINNING DESIGN
Concept
Circumventing the property’s past was definitely not on the design team’s agenda. They chalked out a driving theme that painted itself across the pre-existing canvas, in the colours of locally inspired ‘Nostalgia’ and ‘heritage’. Reflecting this included the use of locally inspired materials, flavors, techniques and processes into an old-school Canteen-like setting. Respectfully embracing and weaving a rich heritage tapestry for the restaurant, right from the ambience to the menu.
On the premise of celebrating regional produce and flavors of different parts of the Indian subcontinent, into freshly articulated recipes; the right stage had to be set to showcase the culinary artistry by chef Floyd, chef Zacharias and their teams.
The Architects articulated an ambience that whispers an exciting unification of the ‘haunted’, with hints of a quintessential Bombay heritage villa in the state of ruins. The idea of having guests over into a veritable home-like setting, reinforces the warmth of being part of a family dining ritual.
Their eventual goal was to translate the ‘haunted’, into a visceral ‘haunt’ of nostalgia, for numerous ravenous customers of Mumbai.
Layout
Adhering with this concept, the floorspace was zoned into smaller subsections, to make its volume feel warmer and closer to its clientele anthropometry. This instills a sense of being contained and protected at moments with sparse footfall in the restaurant.
With these aspects in mind the property was divided into the core(or the main bungalow) and a peripheral verandah (sunroom) seating. All accommodated into an old mill building.
Core
The core is partially protected by an Origami-like network of Irani inspired glass partitions, resonating a meandering layout. The panels are mounted on low height Malad-stone-clad brick walls, and a bar station on one side. Its central space constitutes an intermediary layout of similar brick walls that subtly emulate a hypothetical room-setting of an old Bombay villa. All the guest tables in this space, pitch themselves snugly next to these walls, imitating how most guests gravitate towards walls on entering a large hall-like setting to feel safe and grounded.
Verandah
Most old Bombay heritage homes have a peripheral verandah or sun-room to lounge. Serving as a casual vantage point to a lush outdoor garden and to the traversing world outside. ‘The Bombay Canteen’ captures a similar vibe in its ambience as well. Its verandah is protected by a series of windows all along its expanse, sporting a rustic palette of finishes and furnishing for a casual look.
Colorful Aesthetics
The restaurant artfully emulates a colorful vibe into its aesthetic atmosphere that is quintessential to India’s cultural heritage. It is manifested prominently in the design of the glass partition walls, flooring and bar fit-out.
Glass Partition
The steel and glass partitions which are the essence of the vibrant ambience, are made with a variety of glass panels that arrange themselves into a collage. They include corrugated, frosted, colored glass etc. The panels holistically get dissolved into each of the spaces, freshly rendering them into beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns.
Bar
Is essentially the space with the highest visiting footfall in the restaurant within a small floor area. Taking advantage of the expansive viewership, the design team articulated a carefully thought out fit-out to cater to its persistent volumes. Retaining the old mill wall behind the bar station in its pre-existing unpolished state, the rustic backdrop serves as a tasteful canvas to accessorize. Mounted upon with antique artefacts, staggering timber shelves, functional essentials to cover operations and service, and most importantly a dense stock of spirits. In the midst of this arrangement a glass panelled window pane opens up a view of the hustle and bustle of the kitchen midst action. The kitchen view appears uniquely framed like a painting by the assortment of artefacts mounted onto the wall.
Flooring
It reflects an array of cement tile patterns that demarcate the floor spaces into different seating spaces and circulations. The floor tiling of the core is aesthetically elaborate in patterns and color whilst the verandah sports a more rustic outdoor-like brick flooring to it.
Furniture & Lighting
Furniture
The restaurant furniture comprises classic coffee-brown timber furniture with leather upholstery sporting chic accents of navy, mustard and taupe-brown. The furniture in the sunroom adheres to the same concept with added rattan backrests for their chairs, rendering a casual yet traditional look.
Although the restaurant appears partitioned into different hypothetical rooms, an attempt to integrate the spaces into one is evident through its seating arrangement. The eradication of a few glass panels from the stained glass partitions, accommodates casual wall seating, that weave the core and verandah into one.
Lighting
The ever-changing lighting through the course of the day brings the interiors to life with a refreshing dynamic vibe. By day, the restaurant is lit extensively with diffused light streaming in from the sun room, and through the stained glass partitions. Additional cove and warm LED lighting features ensure uniformity across the restaurant ambience.
By night, the restaurant showcases soft mood lighting to create a calm and relaxing environment for its guests. Spot lights illuminate the tables; uplighters highlight the beauty of the glass partitions, ceiling and wall features.
THE PLACE TO ‘BE’
‘The Bombay Canteen’ was honoured with a highly prestigious award in the culinary world, as the #1 ‘Top Restaurant-India’ 2018. An ode to the colossal amount of work and efforts that went behind bringing a culinary dream to a successful fruition.
Creating a suitable stage for an enthusiastic group of visionaries, namely, co-founders Sameer & Yash, and ace chefs Floyd & Zacharias, with a clear motive from the very beginning; catered the most ideal premise for the designers to build a strong scheme upon. The design team’s mould-breaking approach towards the project, brought an unfamiliar design strategy to the table, where a new age of millennials so willingly accepted the old with open arms.
Today, guests enter with an insatiable appetite to taste the Resto-bar’s meaningful preaching and message on a platter. They exit transformed, with a yearning to experience ‘the Bombay Canteen’ journey again, where they can indeed unwind, feel fulfilled and simply get immersed into an environment where they can just ‘be’.
Standing proud and true to their slogan,
“Mumbai is a city,
Bombay is an emotion,
And our food is a journey”
Contacts
For any inquiries please email
archivedsgn@gmail.com
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