The design brief given by the clients was to create an Indian restaurant that didn\'t look Indian, and had an international flavour. The concept of the restaurant evolved after many brainstorming sessions with the clients Prashant and Anuj, who desired a contemporary ambience, as the restaurant was to serve contemporary Indian food. The creative idea was to blend elements of Indian culinary culture with the aesthetic sensibilities of the west. The starting point of the design, were wooden rolling pins. Minnie Bhatt designed a screen with rolling pins and small planters to grace the otherwise simple and glazed facade of the restaurant.The gentle arch of the restaurant facade and ceiling was to soften the impact of a large squarish space, and make the space more fluid than stark. The open kitchen area,is modern with simple clean lines.The counter top and apron are created in grey IPS,to let the gleam of the copper-gold tandoors shine through, and create an interesting play of textures,with the matt grey Ips contrasting the strong shining metallic tandoor caskets. The window behind the long running sofa, was only about 4feet in height and that was not only looking awkward, but also created a very strong horizontal line visually. To camouflage this Minnie Bhatt created tall window panes in a chequered wood grid to resemble classical window shutters, stretching onto the wall above the original stunted windows. The design team had old recipes of Indian food (with Prashant\'s help) printed on handmade paper and fixed them in place of the glass of the panes. Vintage Indian kitchen accessories like brass graters, ladles, stoves, nut crackers etc. were mounted on the walls with light wood frames surrounding them. Thus the overall visual is modern and on closer look, the artifacts, very Indian. The bar area counter top is again in a log of wood with a live edge. Almost everything in the restaurant has been customized from the furniture, cloche stands, tables, couches and decorative light fittings.
