Luxury in food used to mean a certain kind of formality. White tablecloths, hushed rooms, a menu you did not dare question. That version of fine dining is quietly disappearing, and most of my clients are glad to see it go. What people seem to want now is the flavour and craft without the stiffness.
This has led to a notable increase in private dining. People want to sit at their own table, in their own home or villa, with the people they love, and be as loud and cheerful as they like. The food is still serious. The atmosphere is not. That shift, from a formal occasion to an experience that focuses on enjoyment in all aspects, is the biggest change I've noticed. The intimacy, the freedom to celebrate without restraint, and a chef who becomes part of the evening rather than a name on a door. Some of my favourite nights have ended with guests still at the table long past the plates have been cleared, the conversation nowhere near finished, and you can tell from the atmosphere that the occasion has been crystallised in their minds as a truly memorable experience.
What's being recognised is that precision and warmth are not opposites. You can plate something with real discipline and still make everyone at the table feel completely at ease. That is what discerning clients are looking for now. Not a performance, but a feeling. A night that belongs to them, one that delivers all-round enjoyment to the highest degree, that can't be looked back upon with any sense of critique. Alongside this notion of freedom, comes an appetite for bolder flavours. This is something I've been wanting to see for some time, having personally always had a distaste towards the general Michelin and fine-dining scene that has encouraged the positioning of subtle tastes as the height of culinary accolade. Now we are seeing appetency for striking, unapologetic flavours and textures that make your eyes widen in a sense of awe. That, to me, is where luxury has landed.
A movement away from spending large sums only to feel constrained within the rigidity of a formal setting, towards either visiting establishments that are changing with the times or dining privately in a room full of people you actually want to be with, enjoying food that challenges boundaries, sparks conversation and leaves a lasting imprint.
"We are seeing appetency for striking, unapologetic flavours and textures that make your eyes widen in a sense of awe."
