We were delighted to see two London restaurants using bespoke celebrated in the recent GQ Magazine Food and Drink Awards.
Sri Lankan restaurant Kolamba in Soho won the top award for Best Interior. The Diespeker bespoke team had created the unusual and eye-catching Palladiana cocktail bar in resin terrazzo, plus a cement terrazzo for the table tops and kitchen dining counter. Both terrazzo designs featured unusual teal-blue/green marble in the mix.
The judges remarked:
Kingly Street’s Kolamba is the inaugural project for both restaurateurs Aushi and Eroshan Meewella and London-based interior designer Fare Inc. And what a debut! Natural textures, neutral palettes and a unifying terrazzo design are used to pay homage to the “tropical modernism” movement of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. Elsewhere, linen-piped leather banquettes, woven pendants and bespoke batik artworks add a softness to rustic sawn-wood screens and polished concrete walls.
“The space feels fresh and authentic, much like the dishes leaving the kitchen,” says Dylan Jones. To dine at Kolamba is to segue through the sun-soaked spice markets of Sri Lanka, to savour Sinhalese flavours heady with coconut, cardamom and lemongrass. Surrounded by tropical greenery, Ginger & Peppercorn Mule in hand, you’d be forgiven for forgetting you’re still in Soho.
Another Soho restaurant, French restaurant Folie was nominated for the same award. Folie’s gorgeous bespoke-made geometric resin terrazzo floor perfectly reflects the colours associated with the French Riviera.
Well done to both restaurants. We are thrilled to see Diespeker terrazzo in the limelight! Read more about our work for these projects:
To find out more about the awards click here: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/food-and-drink-awards-winners-2021
