It's approaching lunchtime, and we've lost track of time sat in Kitchen Table's lounge, where guests start their dining experience with champagne, cocktails, and a few snacks before moving into the dining area. With an array of bottles lining the shelves above us, alongside antique pieces personally sourced by James, the pair gesture around the space, each animatedly adding details to the dining experience. Tripping over each other's words, James and Sandia light up as they describe Kitchen Table's rhythm, with each movement meticulously mapped across the space.
JAMES How Kitchen Table runs today has been the same since day one — just without the movement that we now have… I think that movement breaks your mind, it refreshes your feelings with you. You've had three different experiences, whereas if you sit at the same table you started it, by a certain time you're like "Right, let's go somewhere else!" So instead of going somewhere else, we introduce the movement.
SANDIA The way the menu works is something that we both learned from working together. So we always start with a few snacks, and those are always great with champagne to start. Then we follow in with a couple of light dishes, you know some fresh fish, then we go into a couple of heartier seafood dishes, then pasta, then with a lighter meat dish and a fuller meat dish, then cheese, and then dessert.
JAMES Yeah, so we like to think of the lounge as sort of, as Sandia says, where you start, but then you actually come back at the end. You start your evening in here, where the lights are a little brighter and there's the energy of your experiences about to start. We go through to the main counter, and you have the main dinner, then you come back in and finish. But when you're back, the lights have come down and the candles are on. The mood changes from your fresh drinks and champagne at the beginning, it turns into coffees, whiskey, digestif, cocktails — all a little darker. So in this sense, you have three movements within the meal.
SANDIA It's a format that we have worked with since we met. So with the wines, it translates into almost the same; we start with the light wine, or champagne, then we go from the lighter whites, into a fuller white, a light red, a fuller red, a cheese wine, and then a dessert wine. It's almost like, a mirror of the menu, and what you get in terms of flavour and texture, will mirror with the wine pairing as well. But we also offer a completely separate all-champagne pairing as well… I always explain to our staff that champagne is like fashion, because every house has its style — their look, but with each season you come up with new designs, and shirts and trousers, all under this style. So, for champagne, you have different forms — those lighter styles, those fuller styles, fortified wine, a port style, rosé… We put together those styles, following the same textures and flavours of the menu.
