With its big sharing wooden benches the lively fast-service basement atmosphere is brought to life by a background music system, installed by the Sound Division Group and featuring white Martin Audio architectural AQ loudspeakers, alternating along the vaulted ceiling, down the length of the room.
With its prime location next to the Donmar Theatre, and well-known in its previous guise as the Bunker Bar, Kitchen Italia specialises in fresh, homemade pastas and char grill pizzas.
The Sound Division Group has a long history with the operator, having carried out various installation phases at the leisure group's original venture, Hush in Mayfair, as well as the Villandry restaurants in Marylebone and Bicester, for which they designed and installed the entertainment system. SDG then helped to pilot this latest Italian fast food concept (with the inaugural site at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush). Both this, and the Covent Garden site, feature Martin Audio AQ's.
"Kitchen Italia needed a good quality background music system and we were pleased to recommend the AQ series after testing them at Villandry in Bicester," said David Graham. "The client was hugely impressed by the sound quality."
Music is programmed and fed by an 8Track Music Solutions server, powered by Crown XLS amplifiers and routed to its various destinations from a Cloud CX 263 three-way zoner.
"We are delighted to be on board with such an exciting brand roll-out as Kitchen Italia," summarised David Graham. "It was an advantage to have worked closely with Hendry Electrical Contractors and shopfitters, Teknika, on the Westfield site, and the same team ensured that the installation ran to schedule without a hitch."
Replied operators director, Alain Decesse, "The quality of the sound is perfectly suited to this environment - enhancing the mood of the restaurant subliminally and transparently. It is precisely what we asked for."
(Jim Evans)
