Turning the tables

​I rather like dining alone in New York but I’m not sure I would say the same about every city. In Rome or Bordeaux, for example, mealtimes are a truly social affair: restaurants hum with conversation, tables are crowded with friends and arriving alone can make you feel as though you have accidentally walked into someone else’s dinner party. In New York, there’s no pity shown when you turn up on your tod – no one thinks twice when you say, “Yes, a table for one,” nor does anybody offer a sympathetic smile. No one cares. In fact, New Yorkers seem to regard dining alone less as a sad necessity than a perfectly sensible way to spend an evening. And they may have a point. Solo dining is on the rise everywhere, with a 19-per-cent increase worldwide in the past year, and in NYC, it feels positively de rigueur. People in the city are busy and dining alone can often be the most practical option. Plus, nobody steals your chips or begs you to try what they ordered.

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I was staying at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue, restored to its former glory. At the grand brasserie Lex Yard, time slowed and softened as New York throbbed outside – the city doing its thing while I did mine. At cocktail bar Peacock Alley, I watched guests arrive, drink, listen to the music drifting from Noel Coward’s grand piano, lingering or departing and providing all the company I needed.

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All around the city, I enjoyed the luxury of being alone without ever feeling alone. Waiters hovered but only when you wanted them to; they told me what they had eaten from the menu before service and which dish they would order if they were sitting where I was. They knew their food and wine but, more importantly, they seemed to know people. Well, they knew exactly when I needed a top up for my glass of wine, which is an excellent skill.

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Most evenings during my stay in the Big Apple, there was a little buzz surrounding my table. A waiter might stop for a chat, then the sommelier would sweep by to find out what I thought of the wine that she had chosen for me. A server would ask whether I had enjoyed my heritage tomato salad, mentioning that the chef had been to the nearby farmers’ market that morning to source the tomatoes. I began to feel that everyone was just as invested in my dinner as I was and, for a woman dining on her own, I became surprisingly popular.

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And never was I banished to a table beside the lavatories, seated facing a wall or tucked around a corner with the coat stand for company (the traditional punishment for failing to conjure up a dining companion). No book was required. No scrolling through my phone to appear entertained. I simply ate my dinner and drank my wine while New York bustled around me – in all its frenetic glamour – but I was part of it too. And best of all, when the bill arrived, there was no discussion about how to split it.

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Beyond her prolific modelling career – appearing in campaigns for the likes of Alexander McQueen, Miu Miu, Rothy’s and Simone Rocha – Kesewa Aboah is also a multidisciplinary artist who modernises embroidery techniques in her tapestries. Her work has been exhibited across the world and she has held a residency at ArtsIceland in Ísafjörður. Here she tells us about her style secrets and creative inspirations.

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