Mithu Sen Reimagines Fine Dining With An Unusual Luncheon In Mumbai

The sheer opulence of Italian fine dining restaurant Fi’ilia at The Roswyn Hotel in Mumbai cannot be overstated. From its plush interiors, warm lighting to mirrors in dizzying cuts, this is a restaurant you walk into expecting nothing but the luxurious best.

But on a particular luncheon this week, around 50 curious diners were ushered into the restaurant to experience another side of dining — one curated not by a chef or anyone from the hotel but by Delhi-based visual artist, Mithu Sen, who wanted to give the seated guests a sense of radical hospitality.

I Date You: Luxury In Six Acts

Called I Date You!, the brochure promised ‘six acts of luxurious hunger in six courses’ and ended with the ominous words ‘no promises.’ “The idea with radical hospitality is to challenge accepted norms of society and undo established systems,” Sen said. The hotel gave him a brief based on their philosophies of ‘Anti-hotel’ and ‘Third Room’ that they practice to attract long-term stays and that became by starting point for the luncheon.

As guests walked in and took seats at random, the first hint of radical hospitality arrived when one member from the hotel staff joined each table for the entire duration of the lunch. For example, the chair next to this writer was occupied by one of the hotel’s security team. Sen later remarked that 20 staff members was carefully chosen after a round of evaluations and anonymous QnA’s with the team of over 100 members to make them feel involved in the process as well.

The Plot Thickens

After a slight delay, Sen made a dramatic entry on a food trolley that was steered around the room. Wearing a joker nose and making illegible noises, Sen stayed in character throughout as the background cleared to announce that privilege was being served on the menu and it would be ideal to not waste any food.

The first course duly arrived — and so did hand gloves. The dish was a tuna tartare salmon with ponzu pearls and kombu dashi served along with a sauce made of herbs such as basil, parsley etc. As the diners waited for cutlery to arrive, the hotel staff at the table started eating with their hands and quietly announced that the entire meal would have no cutlery served.

A few diners who tried to prod the servers into getting cutlery were rebuffed and in a moment of tremendous significance, watching all diners eat with their hands in a premium restaurant seemed to personify Sen’s radical hospitality.

Sen said that convincing the hotel to do this took some time. From the no-cutlery stance to swapping out the restaurant’s flower arrangement, having a vague menu card with no mention of the ingredients and a say in some of the dishes in order to evoke the diners’ senses was a task the artist said she had to work hard on. “The idea is also to challenge the diner. You will do either of three things viz., either you’ll surrender to the experience, laugh with it or simply leave the table,” she said.

The second course – a chicken yakitori with green onion bites was slightly easier to eat with hands but the third course once again stumped the room. A wild mushroom ravioli, essentially a super-sized ravioli, arrived on the table and again required breaking it into smaller bites and eating with hands.

Main course arrived in the form of lamb chops along with smoked mashed potatoes with jus and black garlic puree. This was easier to hold and scarf down but the accompanying voiceover reminded us to eat mindfully and also threw in some stats about food politics, untouchability and other aspects of society that we don’t generally think about while eating.

The fifth course was an interesting palate cleanser of sorts: a tiny tomato sphere with balsamic pearls and some burrata cream at the base that was meant to be gulped down in one go. The food at the luncheon definitely stood out for its quality produce and taste profiles, even without any cutlery.

The Third Act

The last course invited diners to step into the hotel’s vinyl bar, Black Lacquer, and break into a heart-shaped chocolate cake with bare hands and eat as much as they wished to. It was here, finally, that the concept of I Date You! came to a close — with a literal chocolate heart in front of everyone.

Once the luncheon was complete, most diners walked out in quiet awe of what they had experienced. There were no elaborate goodbyes or loud networking of any kind, just a quiet acknowledgement of having been a part of a special dining experience.

For Sen, the experience was part of her medium that she calls ‘playbour’ – a portmanteau of play and labour. “I apply subversion to each and every project of mine. I’m not an activist or a politician but as a fine artist, I apply subversion to my work.”

As the last of the diners took their leave, the final instruction of the luncheon stayed on. It simply read: 'Bon appetit, or whatever comes next.'