Did you know that the world’s first ethnic hall is being built in a mall in Iran?
Creating attractive concepts that match the culture, habits, tastes, and needs of the target group in shopping centers will become the key to their success. Dovan Iranian Company, as the developer of the Rasht Citadium project, has created a creative and unique space in this complex, looking at the connection between the culture of Gilan province and food and cooking, which will become one of the most attractive tourist spots in the province, in addition to the local audience.
Ethnic Hall is a place you haven’t experienced, but after reading this text, you will definitely look forward to it!
Let’s understand Ethnic Hall and immerse ourselves in the world of cuisine:
A space created with the atmosphere of local culture is the literal meaning of Ethnic Hall! Ethnic Hall aims to present all the food products of Gilan province in the form of a “fresh market” with the same atmosphere as local markets. But the main and basic point of defining the identity of this concept is not just creating a market for shopping! We will talk a little more about this concept later…
One of the most important plans of the Citadium development management in the departmental layout section has been to allocate a larger area than the standard to food and beverage (F&B) units. Global experiences show that with changing consumer behavior and the tendency of target groups to shop online, food spaces with the right atmosphere and creative concepts in shopping centers are the key to their success in creating footfall.
On the other hand, the culture and habits of the people in Gilan province and the great interest of the audience in cities such as Rasht and Anzali in using cafes and restaurants made food spaces such as cafes and restaurants one of the main anchors for attracting the crowd. With all these measures and considerations regarding the breadth and diversity of food concepts in the complex, it seemed that the main connection point of the Citadium project with the culture of Gilan province was missing something!
The city of Rasht was registered by UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015. Gilani cuisine is renowned for its diversity and flavor and has a national status. The atmosphere of local markets, such as the Rasht Municipality Market, is considered part of the historical and cultural treasure of this province. All of these issues, through the Ethnic Hall, became the main point of semantic connection of the project to its construction platform.
“Cooking and combining flavors to create a work of art” is the most important and essential element of Ethnic Hall’s identity. In addition to fresh and organic products directly provided by producers, at Ethnic Hall you can taste Gilani flavors in the form of “small food presses” (we do not use the term finger food, because it may only evoke a limited number of dishes,
If you are interested in a particular flavor of food, you can get all the ingredients there and even learn how to cook your favorite dishes. This is a complete culinary consultation!
Gilani women and skilled but perhaps unknown chefs prepare the recipes for all Gilani dishes in advance for you, and full cooking videos are made available to visitors via QR codes and a comprehensive platform. When we talk about all the “Gilani dishes”, we mean more than 2,700 flavors and dishes registered with UNESCO!
Therefore, upon entering the Ethnic Hall, you will encounter stalls selling fresh fish, meat and poultry, vegetables and fruits, rice and tea, garlic and olives, pickles, etc. Fresh and organic products can be offered both in separate stalls and through market-style spaces. Each stall has the opportunity to offer dishes in the form of small and large dishes to show how its products can be cooked!
Finally, seating areas and central stoves for cooking and cooking demonstrations will complete the Ethnic Hall space.
In order to have a suitable name for this concept, we will soon hold a naming contest by forming a specialized working group to choose a name for this space that is appropriate to the concept but has roots in Gilani culture, so that even hearing its sound will evoke the Gilani atmosphere for you.
If you, the esteemed reader, would like to participate in this discussion, you can share your opinions with us; or declare your readiness to become a member of the Citadium specialized food working group; and this will make the Citadium family proud (Today’s date: 1st of July 1401)!
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Ethnic Hall, a link to Gilani culinary art:
In the Ethnic Hall, spaces have been specially designed to showcase culinary art, and we will be planning the first cooking shows or “shows” centered on Gilaki food in this space. Famous chefs will show their culinary art to the audience in these spaces, and the dishes cooked during the day will be sold;
On the other hand, other chefs, who may not be well-known but have inherited authentic Gilani cooking over generations, can cook in groups in these spaces, which will be both a showpiece and a serious step towards entrepreneurship among local people, especially women.
You can prepare your own delicious meal from Ethnic Hall or just continue to enjoy the taste and experience and make your day! If we were to describe the concept of shared cooking a little more precisely,
The idea is derived from the Cloud Kitchen concept, which has been created as an entrepreneurial idea for the culinary industry in many countries around the world today, and our claim is that we have even gone a step further and combined the cloud kitchen with the visual pleasure of watching the audience cook! Ethnic Hall is a full-fledged and flexible space that accommodates zero to one hundred cooking, and all topics and creative achievements in this environment are programmable.
Ethnic Hall and attracting provincial tourists:
One of the most important tourist attractions in Rasht and other cities in Gilan has long been the restaurant scene, and many travelers have stopped in these cities to eat Gilan cuisine. We have also heard a lot about the types of vegetables that can only be obtained from Gilan and the various ways to cook fish.
All this hearsay sometimes seems like a mirage to a traveler, and despite having experienced eating at several famous restaurants, he does not experience the charm of the stories he has heard about Gilaki cuisine! Where is this paradise??
Let’s clarify the matter a bit. Various dishes with complex recipes (perhaps few people know, in Gilan, dishes are served that require a slow 48-hour cooking process!) are defined over a wide geographical area. Each dish is specific to a city or village, which these days you can only find in the kitchens of Gilani women or served by an old man in his cozy hut on the side of a rural road.
This variety of food is not commercializable for restaurants, various risks cause restaurants to only offer the most common dishes, and if your experience of Gilaki food is limited to restaurant visits, you may encounter a maximum variety of 20!
At Ethnic Hall, we bring together flavors from the refined kitchen corners of the beautiful cities of Gilan. And soon we will host all your five senses in a full-fledged show.
Let’s hear a little about Rasht Citadium:
Ethnic Hall is the beating heart of Rasht Citadium, always alive, always diverse, always has something new to offer, and will always be your favorite destination.
Citadium is not just a shopping mall, brands and diverse department layouts and good quality of operation are not our distinguishing points, our distinguishing points are concepts and applications that are like oxygen for survival and like blood flowing through the life veins of the complex. On each floor of this four-story project; innovation, creativity and foresight have created concepts that keep Citadium always alive.
Rasht Citadium will be operated in two phases, the first phase (ground floor and first floor) will be opened in 1401 and the second phase, including floors 2, 3, 4, will be opened two years later. The location of Citadium in Gilan province has been defined in such a way that in addition to the main audience from the cities of Rasht and Anzali with the shortest time interval, it will also serve as a travel destination for audiences from other cities.
Detailed specifications of the collection can be followed through our website or Instagram page.