WHEN ART WHETS THE APPETITE

Food with a side of Hearst or Picasso? This palette-to-palate experience THE APPETITE at some of India's top restaurants is indicative of an emerging trend, reports Ismat Tahseen

- Ismat Tahseen

It's said that you eat with your eyes. That cannot be truer than at restaurants that are merging your dining experience with art. In fact, the world's best eateries are making art the amuse bouche, choosing to let it set the backdrop for the meal, then allowing it to slink its way round a diner as the evening progresses, enlivening each course, like fine conversation doing its job. Take Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Italy, which officially states, “The artworks on the restaurant's walls are not there for decoration. Art leaves cues to our creative process and animates the dialogue between the dining room and the kitchen.” Art is at the heart of the dining experience at the legendary Nobu restaurant chain that plays host to art installations, at La Colombe d'Or–the postcard-pretty rustic inn in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, where you savour works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Joan Miró alongside Provencal-style food, and even at the new Manuela in SoHo, NY, with its prized framed art and THAT chandelier made out of reclaimed household plastic, that everyone seems to be talking about.

Closer home, too, showcasing art at dining establishments has become a popular trend. In urban India, with space being the constraint, a meal setting that doubles up as an art space makes for an enticing proposition, and restaurants are playing to the gallery. We're spotlighting three that deliver on the promise:

EAST MEETS WEST