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Island Style Dining
DINING & ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE - JULY 2005
Island Style Dining
Table settings with a tropical twist
Bring the beauty of the tropics to your dinner table with island-inspired settings and accessories from the shops of Nassau and Paradise Island. You'll feel like you never left The Bahamas.
Turquoise waters, white-gold beaches, and the greens, pinks, reds and yellows of tropical flora can give your table a fresh Caribbean look and bring back memories of dining in paradise.
Manuel Canovas, on Parliament Street, features a variety of island-themed cutlery and crockery, including the popular Mariposa line.
Nyoka Miller, sales representative at Manuel Canovas says that the Mariposa line includes ceramic dinnerware with beading around the edges, that is ideal for an island-style table setting.
"Pineapples incorporated with bamboo is a natural look that is very popular," she says. "Stainless steel offset with woven bamboo is also a popular choice." Miller says that pineapples are particularly common in island table settings.
"A customer asked what was so special about pineapples," she says. "The pineapple means 'welcoming' in Hawaii."
At Manuel Canovas, you can also find wicker place mats, plates and dishes with painted pineapples, glasses with sand dollar and seahorse motifs and wine glasses with silver palm tree stems. For formal dinner parties, there are silver pineapple place card holders and Solomon's Mines carries shell-shaped place card holders.
Tropical elegance
Fine china can also be tropical. Solomon's Mines carries the sophisticated British Colonial china pattern by Lenox, featuring an elegant bamboo theme. Another collection to look for is the Versace line with detailed seashell and coral patterns on cups, saucers, dinner plates and creamers.
The Linen Shop on Bay Street also features an extensive selection of table linens and tableware with island-style themes. One table setting has heavy ceramic plates and mugs of pastel pink, green, blue and yellow with seahorses, starfish and sand dollars. More traditional island-style pieces include palm-leaf plates edged with bamboo, a three-sectioned serving platter with painted conch shells, wicker place mats and table napkins by Bahama Hand Prints. Linen tablecloths with hibiscus prints and embroidered palm trees are also available as well as table mats and coasters with tropical motifs.
Far East Traders, off Bay Street in Prince George Plaza, also features island-style home accessories, such as wooden coasters with painted mermaid scenes and linens with stitched frangipani, a fragrant Bahamian flower.
Pipe of Peace offers a custom-designed series of glass pitchers, glasses and goblets with sandblasted palm trees, sea grapes, seashells and fish called the Palm Tree Collection. Affordable straw place mats, napkin rings and coasters complement the island settings.
The Royal Palm Trading Company on Bay Street features Pimpernel place mats showing colourful scenes of tropical fish, seahorses and coral, as well as an old island-themed print of sailboats set against an antique map.
Flowers for the table
An important element of any table setting is the centerpiece. According to culinary guide, Larousse Gastronomique, "table decorations should not in any way impede the service or make it difficult to speak to or see one another." In other words, the ideal centrepiece is attractive, yet simple.
Bora Hunte, a florist at Petal Pushers on East Bay Street, says that floral centerpieces are often chosen for island table settings. Tropical flowers, such as bird-of-paradise and anthirium, a leaf-shaped flower with a yellow stalk, are some flowers to keep in mind when arranging a floral centerpiece for an island-themed table. She explains that while hibiscus might be a popular tropical flower, it is not ideal for a centerpiece due to its short lifespan.
Hunte adds that vases, whether crystal or glass, are standard options for centerpieces, however straw baskets are also popular and are in line with a tropical theme.
Other ideas include a large glass bowl filled with seashells or a straw basket filled with tropical fruits such as pineapples and mangoes.
Eighteenth century French gourmet and lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, "to invite someone to one's table is to assume responsibility for his happiness during the time he is under your roof." With island-themed table settings and accessories from your latest trip to The Bahamas, you're sure to keep your guests feeling the happiness that comes from dining in paradise.
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