I have recently come across the book "The Perfect Meal - The Multisensory Science of Food and Dining" by Charles Spence. Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University and has studied how the environment affects our experience when we eat in a restaurant. I think it's super interesting what it is that makes a restaurant experience magical. After all, it is not only the food that determines it. It's everything from the scents, the flavors, the presentation of the food and the wines. It is the lighting in the room, the acoustics, which must be neither too lively nor noisy. It is the personal service and the aesthetics of the surroundings and also the service on which the food is served.
The exclusive restaurant experience
I have tried it a few times in my life, when I was almost flying when I went home. In Denmark it was i.a. after an evening with the family at AOC, where the atmosphere in the rustic cellar became magical. The soft vaults and low ceilings were both beautiful and gave good acoustics, and it was as if everything was in perfect harmony. I still remember that particular evening and that meal as something very special.
A few years ago, when I had painted murals at Restaurant Geranium , I experienced it again. I was subsequently invited in to eat, so that I could experience the murals in the right atmosphere, and it was as if the restaurant in which I had been standing and painting for many days was now brought to life. The restaurant was now in its perfection, the lighting, the sound, the bright and light surroundings that matched the refined aesthetics of the food. The feeling of being welcomed and everything just flowed from that moment. All senses were heightened and that special magic arose where life outside disappeared. In a magical dinner experience, you are in a bubble where time stops and everything around disappears.
What it is that creates this particular magic is difficult to define. It is not just one thing. It's all playing in beautiful harmony. The room itself: It must be harmonious, visually inviting and pleasant to be in.
The taste of good sound
How often do we think about the sound in a restaurant? Most of us probably only remember eating places with particularly poor acoustics and, for example, loud music. I personally remember a restaurant experience where during dinner I told my friend that I felt unwell and had lost my appetite, so maybe I was getting sick. She replied that I probably wasn't, there was just a really unpleasant environment in the restaurant with very bright lights and terrible acoustics. And it turned out she was quite right, because five minutes after we left the restaurant, I was fine again.
When there was noise and poor acoustics, the sound was compressed, and it is difficult to hear what the others at the table are saying. When everyone then starts talking louder, it also bothers the neighboring tables more, as the sound is thrown around and everyone gets stressed.
In the case of poor interior design with, for example, many hard concrete surfaces and glass, the sound will be thrown around. Wood absorbs the sound and dampens it, while concrete throws the sound around the room.
Since sound and aesthetics must go hand in hand, together with Dansk Lydisolering I have developed a series of sound-absorbing images, where I have particularly thought of restaurants and hotels.
See my new acoustic pictures here
