2013 Gallery

With minimal but precise moves Farmhouse creates a bucolic dining fantasy, not only in the midst of dense urbanity but also in a highly competitive gastronomic area. Working within a compact volume and with a restrained, elemental palette of design elements this tiny restaurant diligently pares back the dining experience to its essentials, without parsimony or lack of conviviality. Its ingenious single operable table and intimate connections with the servery and kitchen heighten the sense of being at a dinner party in a French farmhouse, yet there is no pastiche or unauthenticity about this place. Every decision has been made with clarity and criticality – to provide everything you need, and nothing you don’t. Farmhouse succeeds as much for what it chooses not to do, as for what it does. This ethic carries through to its courageous conception of the food offering: each sitting is a communal affair, with no menu, no choice, and the food is prepared by emerging chefs who cook, serve and clear the table. A refreshing challenge to mainstream approaches to restaurants, Farmhouse is an exquisitely focused venture, simultaneously modest and noble.