Cooked over fire

Rumah Api cook everything over open flame in a room lit almost entirely by candles. Any attempt to brighten that room kills it, so the whole approach was to protect the darkness and expose for the fire.

I worked service-side across two evenings with the kitchen running normally: plated dishes photographed at the pass within seconds, the room shot between covers, the grill in the last light of the day.

The set is deliberately dark and warm. It matches what a guest sees when they sit down, which is the only honest brief for a restaurant.