GET THIS:Carluccio's opens in Dublin next week, bringing with it trendy long eating tables, writes Hugo Arnold
YOU DON'T really arrive at Longrain in Sydney. You glide. Two ramps lead to left and right as you enter this stylish restaurant, with the chefs positioned on a platform above your head. The effect is unbelievably dramatic. What was once a warehouse in the Surrey Hills area of the city has been transformed into a cool, contemporary space.
If you move to the left there is a bar full of not pint-drinkers but people enjoying cocktails of the stick (not umbrella) variety. The space, being as vast as it is, can accommodate a DJ for the latter half of the week without drowning out all conversation. If you move to the right, the real wow takes hold. Three enormous communal tables stretch the entire length of this vast room. Modern Australian art adorns the walls and on the left is a wall panelled with woven slats of wood. This is Asian-style banquet dining, but with a modern twist.
We are to get a communal table in Dublin next Monday with the arrival of Carluccio's at 52 Dawson Street. Are we entering an era of being able to dine all day (they will be open from 7am-11pm) and in comfort?
Communal tables - like eating at the bar - work well in a restaurant setting. You get grandness and intimacy at the same time.
This dynamic eating style may not be what everyone wants all the time, but we seem stuck to our two- and four-tops with grim determination. In New York, Paris and London, communal eating has caught hold, or been in existence, for some considerable time, in part to cater for the ebb and flow that happens with a culture that wants access to food and drink all day and at reasonable prices. How much less of a decision is it to drop in for a cup of coffee if you can join the hub of activity in the middle of the room than sit all lonely on the edge?
The absence of communal tables from the dining scene generally is an odd one. They are as much a feature of the grand houses of Ireland as they are of the farmhouse kitchen. Are we too busy saying goodbye to both traditions to reinvent a modern version of the same? The tables at Longrain are a winner. The three are laid end to end, the clean lines creating a runway of comfort and style. Dark wood grains give a polish that is at once clean but tactile. You are forced to sit forward to talk, but then this is generally a good thing. A reason to focus, both on the food and your companions.
THE MENU at Longrain is Thai influenced; eggnet with pork prawn peanuts, bean sprouts and sweet vinegar is something of a signature dish, but then so too is the braised beef shin with a mint, coriander and chilli salad.
You share. And in doing so realise how much more space a table of this size provides. How often do we all squeeze into seats on tables barely able to accommodate the candle and cutlery? Big tables allow you to spread out. And if you are a lone diner, reading the newspaper becomes a joy. If we are to embrace casual eating we need more space. Try ordering a burger - by the time you have all the extras, the knife and fork will be hiding under a sea of utensils.
We used to have a communal sense of fun with the old Bewley's on Grafton Street in Dublin. Coffee and a sticky bun with the benefit of complete strangers crowding in for warmth and conversation as you read your paper or slim novel. No more - it all seems another era.
Warehouse spaces are made for this kind of post-industrial usage and yet we have nothing like Longrain in Dublin, despite numerous warehouses.
Instead we seem happy to dine on tiny tables in basements, carved-up spaces and under bridges. Like Sydney, we are lucky enough to have a city suffused with a sea-influenced light and yet we seem to want to dine in the dark most of the time. Why? Restaurateurs take note. Bring on the long tables and let us all relax.
Long halls
The Morrison, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin
This is located in the front lobby area, so it's the bar menu which is no great shakes. Still the table's length and blackness is attractive.
Wagamama, South King Street, Dublin
Pioneers in introducing not just communal tables, but eat-as-it-comes and no smoking.
Yamamori Noodles, 71 South Great George's Street, Dublin
Late players maybe, but just look at the length of those tables.