Asian Bar and Restaurant Design PDF
Preview Asian Bar and Restaurant Design
ASIAN BAR AND RESTAURANT DESIGN BY KIM INGLIS I PHOTOGRAPHY BY MASANO KAWANA PERIPLUS EDITIONS Singapore • Hong Kong • Indonesia CONTENTS 6 NEW DIRECTIONS, NEW DESIGNS BALI 14 16 DAVA & MARTINI CLUB 20 KU DE TA 26 LAMAK 30 SPICE 34 THE WAVE 42 THE GREENHOUSE 48 THE CLUBHOUSE BANGKOK 52 54 SYNBAR 60 87 PLUS 64 THOMPSON BAR & RESTAURANT 68 HU’U BAR & RESTAURANT 72 DRINKING TEA EATING RICE 76 THE DOME AT STATE TOWER 82 ERAWAN TEA ROOM 86 D’SENS 92 BED SUPPERCLUB JAKARTA 96 98 BURGUNDY 104 C’S 110 CILANTRO 114 DRAGONFLY 120 THE EDGE 126 LARA DJONGGRANG &LA BIHZAD BAR 132 THE NINE MUSES CLUB 138 XLOUNGE, CHARCOAL, VERTIGO KUALA LUMPUR 144 146 FEAST VILLAGE 154 EEST 160 THE DINING ROOM & BAR 166 GONBEI 172 SEVENATENINE SINGAPORE 178 180 BOLD 184 THE BUTTER FACTORY 190 THE LINE 196 CHINA ONE 200 THE CLIFF 206 CRYSTAL JADE GOLDEN PALACE 210 PS CAFE 214 MY HUMBLE HOUSE 218 FORBIDDEN CITY 224 GRAZE 230 RANG MAHAL 234 AOKI 238 INK CLUB BAR 244 UPPER CLUB 248 ZUMA GRILL & BAR 252 DESIGNER BIOGRAPHIES 254 ADDRESSES 256 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6 Hospitalityhas always been high on the Asian In a world of celebrity chefs, exorbitant wine prices, agenda. Southeast Asia is renowned for its varied ingredients of superstar status and multi-million dollar cuisines — coconut cream and chilli-infused curries, hotels with flagship restaurants, the humble hostelry is noodles and nasi goreng, seafood extravaganzas, a thing of the past. To be competitive, new restaurants fiery sambals and satays, and much more — many need ambience, sex appeal, status and that certain je NEW DIRECTIONS, dispensed from roadside hawker stalls. Singapore is ne sais quoias well as great food and service. These NEW DESIGNS famous for its informal food courts, and Bangkok’s elements don’t originate from the kitchen. Rather street food is incomparable. Whatever the time of they are realized in the restaurant’s décor and design day, or night, delicious snacks and drinks are on hand. — and it is in this area that Asia has come into its own. However, food isn’t only available in these low-cost, Of course, social and economic factors are part and neighborhood eateries. Since the mid 1950s, the rise parcel of this rapid rise, as is the “design destination” of the mid-level restaurant has been fairly consistent, trend that so appeals to the creative cognoscenti. However, something else, something much more fundamental, is at the heart of it. That something is what could be termed the “Asian aesthetic,” an innate talent that has always been referenced in the region’s craftsmen, but has now been given a free rein. Japan’s top restaurant designers are currently in high demand in the USA and Europe, while architects and designers from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand hone skills that meld Asian elements with Western technology. There’s a strong international dialogue going on — albeit it with an Oriental slant. It could be argued that the multi-kitchen restaurant is an Asian creation, as is the move away from the up- scale French or American white tablecloth and silver service model. There’s a new informality in the dining experience, and it’s interesting to see Asian wannabes cropping up in the West. In a reverse trend, many top American designers are attracted to the East — and are being employed to create new restaurants and bars in some of Asia’s top hotels. So what exactly are the ingredients of a hot, happen- ing restaurant? What can we expect on the menu? especially as other cuisines have been introduced to Most agree that serious cachet is garnered with the region. But it is only in the last decade or so that seriously original design: Big themes are passé, quality very high-quality offerings — in food, service and is key. And most designers are keen to emphasize that décor— have burgeoned on to the Asian scene. The it is not just about the pretty picture; the operational choice today is unprecedented, a trend that is global, logistics need to work too. Calvin Tsao of Tsao & as well as local. The days when a decent meal and a McKown points out that when defining a public pleasant waiter sufficed are over. Entertaining out is space, particularly a place of such active social inter- now a lifestyle choice, and Asia’s Food & Beverage action as a bar or restaurant, the design must address sector has gone through the roof. the fact that many of the same people will pass through the space at different times; it needs to look Even though this book comments on food and service fresh and original during both day and night. Check (and all the restaurants, bars and clubs included are out his multi-dimensional SynBar on pages 54–59. of a very high standard), the focus here is on design, décor, architecture and interiors. It is in this arena that Tsao goes on: “The high-style design concept with Asia excels. its big themes, such as big Buddhas or big circuses, AboveBrand new:Logos and branding are buzzwords of all cool eateries and a strong restaurant identity is a must in these competitive times.The entrance to this restaurant in Feast Village in Kuala Lumpur employs beautifully executed signage.Called MyThai,the elegant swirling metal motif is a celebration of the Thai noodle. OppositeThe top floor of the Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok is home to a high-end restaurant called D’Sens.As one exits the lift one is confronted by a super-luxe,Shirley Bassey-style antechamber,employing sophisticated lighting,materials and design. 7 New Directions, New Designs 9 New Directions, New Designs inevitably becomes dated. A restaurant should aspire to provide a congenial environment where people interact. The décor should be rigorous and chic, but never upstage the diner.” An interesting point, concede the folks at Super Potato, Tokyo-based designers who started the trend for multi- dining venues with the groundbreaking mezza9 at Singapore’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. That restaurant offers Chinese, Japanese, Western and multi-ethnic cuisine in a space loosely arranged around nine open show kitchens and counters. A spokesperson for the firm believes that restaurants are no longer about eating, but also about “enjoying the act itself.” They provide an “experience.” And at Super Potato, the designers strive to give their spaces a “new fertility as added value.” What this really boils down to is restaurants with vision, energy and glamour. Glamour has always been in high demand, but today’s glamour differs from the aristocratic or hot Hollywood glamour of past eras. Nowadays, luxury has been re- defined as understated, serene and reflective, not in your face. The haute French restaurant with its over the top floral arrangements, chandeliers and flowing drapes may have signified the apogee of 20th-century fine dining, but in the new millennium it is giving way to something altogether more hard-edged. This does not necessarily mean pared-back contemporary interiors, although there are plenty of restaurants with bare walls, utilitarian materials and simple clean lines. Rather, it means a neo-classic or neo-vintage interpretation of yesterday’s sumptuous, albeit rather starchy, spaces. Michael Tan, the interior designer responsible for the boho-chic Scarlet Hotel whose Bold bar is featured on pages 180–183, endorses this view. “I believe that what we are seeing in restaurant and bar design today is an overlaying of more tactile and visually stimulating finishes, details and motifs, within thoroughly modern interiors,” he says. Alice Nguyen, an interior designer with her own prac- tice in Asia agrees: “The movement is away from the minimalism of the ’90s,” she declares. Previously with Hirsch Bedner Associates in Los Angeles, Nguyen pre- dicts more warmth and luxury in interiors. That doesn’t mean Louis XIV furniture and over-the-top clutter, more a reveling in textures, saturated colors, luxurious fabrics — a look that embraces past forms and designs, but presents them in a new and sexy manner. See her Ink Club Bar on pages 238–243. Left Sophisticated lighting and high quality materials are key to the well-designed restaurant.At Dragonfly in Jakarta,an asymmetric back-lit onyx high table,a gold-and-black lit panel and concealed spots in an overhead lamp made from old railway sleepers are imaginative and eye-catching.
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