The planners of Golucci Interior Architects want to offer guests a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city for the time of a bowl of pasta
In a big city like Shanghai there are only a few restaurants that can offer their guests a wide and contemplative view as well as a quiet atmosphere. But that’s exactly what the Kiki Noodle Bar promises, and the planners at Beijing-based Golucci Interior Architects have made use of the forest and the rocks to at least hint at this impression: on one wall you looks into the picture of a row of trees, and in front of them there are backrests that imitate boulders.
Even more: in the middle of a big seating group there are real rocks.
The model for the designers was a situation typical of Taiwan, as they write: you sit under a canopy in front of a building and look out over a wide landscape from the hillside, where in the distance the mountains are blurred in the haze. And in reference to the Kiki Noodle Bar: “Even if it is just for a bowl of noodles, the designers hope to bring the soul to the quiet landscape. At least for the meal, the guests should escape the “excitement and embarrassment” of the big city.
At the same time, the design also wants to give the visitors a feeling of security. Thus the restaurant is also reminiscent of a traditional inner courtyard, where one sits under stretched cloths.
Already at the entrance, there is a song of praise for the Chinese tradition of soup kitchens: there is a sales trolley like the ones you find everywhere in the streets of the hinterland.
One can experience the cooking in the restaurant by looking into the kitchen. Even when the curtains are down, you can still see the schemes of the employees and the steam clouds.
One side of the restaurant is reserved for sales: there you can buy the “handmade sun-dried noodles” of the Kiki brand and take them home for cooking.
The Kiki Noodle Bar in Shanghai is part of the Hong Kong-based Lai Sun Dining restaurant chain.
(22.07.2020, USA: 07.22.2020)
