Restaurants & Bars – The Cool Hunter Journal https://thecoolhunter.net INTERNATIONALLY CURATED, DELIVERED LOCALLY Wed, 03 Aug 2022 05:51:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6.10 https://thecoolhunter.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/favicon.jpg Restaurants & Bars – The Cool Hunter Journal https://thecoolhunter.net 32 32 Äng, Ästad Vingård restaurant, Tvååker, Sweden https://thecoolhunter.net/ang-astad-vingard-restaurant-tvaaker-sweden/ Wed, 03 Aug 2022 05:51:46 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17701 Rehousing their Michelin-starred restaurant Äng into a starkly minimalist glasshouse is the latest development at Ästad Vingård winery . The owners, the Carlsson siblings, continue to tick off all the correct trend boxes at their winery in southwestern Sweden. Yes, a winery in Sweden. In fact, there are more than 40 wineries in the Scandinavian country and at five hectares (about 12.5 acres), Ästad is one of the largest. But even...

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Rehousing their Michelin-starred restaurant Äng into a starkly minimalist glasshouse is the latest development at Ästad Vingård winery . The owners, the Carlsson siblings, continue to tick off all the correct trend boxes at their winery in southwestern Sweden.

Yes, a winery in Sweden. In fact, there are more than 40 wineries in the Scandinavian country and at five hectares (about 12.5 acres), Ästad is one of the largest. But even it sells its wines only on-site at the moment, chiefly because the state-owned and -operated Systembolaget holds the country’s strict alcohol-selling monopoly.

But back to the trends at the Ästad estate. Daniel Carlsson and his siblings, Linda Persson and Mattias Glamheden, all with their families, are the third generation of Carlssons on the farm. It started as a traditional farm, was transferred into an organic dairy farm by their parents, Rolf and Ann-Catrine Carlsson, and since 2009, part of the estate has been developed into an organic winery, spa and restaurant.

So, trendwise, we are already ticking off second-generation organic farming, organic wine, winery as a destination, and winery as a wellness destination connected to other attractions, such as a spa and conference facilities, that draw the modern, affluent clientele.

The Äng restaurant’s first iteration was an upscale, experimental add-on to an on-site bistro. By 2021 Äng (Swedish for meadow or field)  had earned its first Michelin star and was starting to really attract attention. So, as a natural progression of estate’s continuing development, Daniel Carlsson felt it was time to give the restaurant a place that fit the bill.

Daniel’s vision and design for the new home of Äng focuses on the views, which is why a multi-level glasshouse is, in a way, an obvious, solution, although an unusual one. The ground level of the unassuming glasshouse includes a bar, a lounge and a small kitchen. The below-ground level includes a windowless wine cellar, another lounge and a large , natural light-filled dining room. The lower level is built into the sloping hill and opens up to the expansive views of the pond, lakes and beech forests of the Åkulla nature reserve in Halland.

Ticking off further trend boxes, the restaurant offers a 17-course tasting menu that varies based on what is locally available, some of it on the estate, and in season. And it all is, of course, paired with the estate’s wines, currently mainly sparkling and white wines from the Solaris grape.

Further trend points are given for the furniture that Daniel selected to use for the project. He was initially drawn to the minimalism of the Japanese wooden-furniture manufacturer Karimoku’s N-DCo1 dining chair that is part of the company’s Case Studies series and was designed by Copenhagen-based Norm Architects together with Tokyo-based Studio Keiji.

This initial contact led to all of the players collaborating and creating new and potentially permanent pieces for the Case Study collection. In the end, Norm ended up handling the entire interior fit-out of the project with Daniel Carlsson. They adjusted the material palette, proportions and tones of several existing Case Study pieces.

These include the Norm’s N-CCo1 club chair that was transformed into a love seat for the cellar lounge, while the A-So1 two-seater sofa has been down-sized and the N-STo2 table increased in size to become a dining table. New items for the project include a serving trolley and a small table.

What is best about the Ästad Vingård and Äng is not all of the trend boxes that have been ticked off but the sincerity and uncompromising passion with which the owners pour their energies into this unlikely wine yard. And the future looks bright as the fourth generation of Carlssons is already involved in the business. Tuija Seipell

Images: Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen

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Beach Café, Busan, South Korea https://thecoolhunter.net/beachcafe_busan_southkorea/ Mon, 13 Jun 2022 02:12:26 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17591 Known as the Miami of South Korea, Busan is famous for its beaches and mountains. When the design team at Seoul-based Matter Better Interior Design Studio (mttb) approached their assignment for a beach café in the town of Gijang-eup in the Busan Metropolitan City region for a local brand Off.O, they knew the scenery had to be the main attraction. The structure housing the 589 square-metre (6,340 sq.ft) café on...

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Known as the Miami of South Korea, Busan is famous for its beaches and mountains. When the design team at Seoul-based Matter Better Interior Design Studio (mttb) approached their assignment for a beach café in the town of Gijang-eup in the Busan Metropolitan City region for a local brand Off.O, they knew the scenery had to be the main attraction.

The structure housing the 589 square-metre (6,340 sq.ft) café on the weather-beaten, rugged beach is elegant in its low minimalist profile.

The café extends into three separate buildings. The central entrance space houses a bakery and a coffee bar. Angled on both sides are two separate seating areas, each with incredible views of the beach.

Minimalist black, white and natural slate hues dominate all three areas with the bakery mostly slate-grey and one of the seating areas almost completely black with long tables and low-hanging lighting. The overall elongated, low-slung design language draws the eye to the windows and to the rugged scenery outside.

The boxy shape of the structures and the rigid shapes of the windows and long tables are softened by rounded details, such as the hanging light fixtures, chair backs and the edges of the lower tables made of bulky, dark slabs of wood.

With the dark minimalist interiors and the indoor pathways flanked by rock-filled “wells” there is a definite Japanese sensibility to the seating areas. We love the drama created by letting the spectacular views dominate the rooms.

Matter Better (mttb) was in charge of branding, concept design, schematic design, working drawings and design supervision of this project.

Images: Yongjoon Choi

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Prime Seafood Palace, Toronto, Ontario, Canada https://thecoolhunter.net/prime-seafood-palace-toronto-ontario-canada/ Mon, 30 May 2022 05:53:48 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17550 Toronto-based restaurateur Matty Matheson is known for many things but subtlety is not one of them. He swears, huffs and waves his hands, and his many tattoos, beanie cap and unkempt beard, he looks slightly dangerous. And it is obvious that he likes it that way. Matty Matheson is a brand. But there is one important thing for which you cannot blame him and that is lack of passion. His...

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Toronto-based restaurateur Matty Matheson is known for many things but subtlety is not one of them. He swears, huffs and waves his hands, and his many tattoos, beanie cap and unkempt beard, he looks slightly dangerous. And it is obvious that he likes it that way. Matty Matheson is a brand.

But there is one important thing for which you cannot blame him and that is lack of passion. His infectious enthusiasm and fervour for his latest restaurant Prime Seafood Palace in Toronto’s West Queen West is both delightful and genuine. And, in a way, the new restaurant is off-brand for Matheson. And he likes that, too.

For six years he and architect Omar Gandhi have worked on every little detail of the restaurant that serves not just seafood but also steaks and an ambitious menu of vegetables.

Matheson admires iconic steak houses, but he also has an affinity for basic family restaurant chains including the Canadian The Keg. But the most palpable features of his latest restaurant are based on his memories of his grandfather’s Blue Goose restaurant, still operating in Prince Edward Island. Matheson himself was born in Saint John, New Brunswick 40 years ago.

He also selected an architect that is not known for restaurant design. His choice, Omar Gandhi, is a fellow Maritimer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Toronto. Together, before deciding on anything at all, they wanted to scrutinize and analyze each aspect of the restaurant from their individual and common perspectives, and infuse their reverence of artisanship, exquisite quality and warm, welcoming comfort.

But the comfort of Prime Seafood Palace is far from that of a comfy greasy spoon. Instead, its welcoming ambiance is created by an elegant mix of Maritime, Scandinavian and Japanese minimalist design. The key components are wood, leather and brass. Each material was chosen for its propensity to accumulate a lovely patina that will eventually create a sense of ageless beauty.

And as Gandhi is quick to point out, in the end, the key player is light. The way the light is diffused by the brass screens and horizontal maple slabs evokes an atmosphere of warmth and an ever-changing mood.

The square building itself is a non-descript red-brick barn that is now painted white with black rims. Inside, the most striking attribute is the heigh of the main space emphasized by a huge barrel vault made of maple wood slats weighing more than 900 lb in total.

The airy space configuration includes four booths, a few tables and a bar. In addition, there is what Matheson calls The Cottage, with its wood-burning Jotul stove stacked wood and lambskin-covered chairs.

Every item is either custom-created for the restaurant, or sourced specifically to fit the design criteria. Custom furniture was created, for example, by Coolican & Company and custom pendant lighting by Concord.

Matty Matheson is known as the winner on TV Show Burger Wars, for hosting Matty and Benny Eat Out America with record producer Benny Blanco, and his Viceland cooking show It’s Suppertime!. He also has two New York Times-bestselling cookbooks, and two other restaurants, Matty’s Patty’s and Fonda Balam both also in Toronto’s Queen Street West area. In addition, he has an online store, matheswoncookware cookware line and popular YouTube and Instagram accounts. He is involved with several cooperative endeavours, creates pop-ups for fun and for profit, and is a frequent guest on TV shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and cameo in catfishing adventures with Bon Appetit’s Brad Leone. – Tuija Seipell

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Arkhé Restaurant, Adelaide, Australia https://thecoolhunter.net/arkhe-restaurant-adelaide-australia/ Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:51:46 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17356 Described by local media as Adelaide’s first open-flame restaurant, arkhé is a refreshingly unassuming entry into the city’s culinary scene. In a time marked with constant change, disconnection and uncertainty, the restaurant’s frank design and cuisine, both centred around fire, evoke a sense of clarity and community. Its name is the Greek word translated as “something that was in the beginning,” and also as first principle, origin, source of action. The kitchen...

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Described by local media as Adelaide’s first open-flame restaurant, arkhé is a refreshingly unassuming entry into the city’s culinary scene. In a time marked with constant change, disconnection and uncertainty, the restaurant’s frank design and cuisine, both centred around fire, evoke a sense of clarity and community.

Its name is the Greek word translated as “something that was in the beginning,” and also as first principle, origin, source of action.

The kitchen is helmed by co-owner Jake Kellie, Australian Young Chef of the Year 2015 and also known for his appearances in the MasterChef Australia TV show. He returns to Australia from Singapore where he was head chef of Michelin-starred Burnt Ends, a modern Australian barbecue restaurant ranked consistently among the World’s 50 Best Barbeque restaurants.

In arkhé Kellie partnered with Palmer Hospitality, the local group behind Adelaide-based restaurants such as 2KW, Fishbank and Paloma Bar & Restaurant.

To design the space, the partners selected Olivier Martin of Adelaide-based architecture and design firm studio -gram whose restaurant design portfolio in Adelaide includes Osteria Oggi, Shobsoho and Leigh Street Wine Room.

Arkhé’s address is number 127 The Parade in the main shopping and restaurant area of Norwood, a trendy and eclectic Adelaide suburb approximately four kilometres (2.5 miles) east of the city centre.

Arkhé is located on the ground floor of a heritage-listed two-storey Victorian building where the slightly prissy white façade is deceptive. Inside, the space itself also seems much smaller than it turns out to be.

The 200-person-capacity restaurant consists of three distinct segments all connected via a long corridor: the entry lounge, the main dining and kitchen area (seats 80) and the courtyard at the back.

Hues of muted white and smoky black plus natural materials, such as reclaimed timber, local stone and lime plaster,-create an inviting and unassuming milieu. For example, the seating booths were created with black salvaged railway sleepers that evoke a patina and heritage that matches perfectly with the fire-focus of the restaurant.

The lounge leads to the chef’s table area that acts as an ante-room for the main dining room. The long table itself is a custom-creation by studio -gram and is flanked by eight Thea chairs by local maker Remington Matters. On one side of the table is an art installation and on the other is Kellie’s collection of fermentation jars, all constantly in full use. A four-metre-long row of slip-cast porcelain tubes custom-created by Adelaide-based Handmade & Found hangs over the central communal table that seats 18.

The open kitchen’s mood is softened by wood that is used in many places instead of the stainless steel that dominates most restaurant kitchens. The source of action and main character in the kitchen is fire. Weighing three-and-a-half tonnes the dual-cavity wood oven is the central hub that also generates the coals for the four elevation grills as well.

Kelllie focuses the cuisine on local ingredients cooked either in the wood-fired ovens or over the open grill. No gas or electricity is used in the cooking. The lounge and courtyard serve drinks and snacks only. The chef’s table has a bespoke tasting menu separate from the main dining room. Tuija Seipell

Images: Timothy Kaye

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SOMA Soho Cocktail Bar, West End, London, UK https://thecoolhunter.net/soma-soho-cocktail-bar-west-end-london-uk/ Sun, 28 Nov 2021 11:39:46 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17227 SOMA Soho is the first bar venture of chef Will Bowlby and former accountant Rik Campbell, the men behind the three Kricket Restaurants located in Brixton, Soho and White City in London. Bowlby had worked in restaurants in Mumbai and reinterpreted his ideas of Indian cuisine for Krickets, ever since the first one opened in 2015 initially as a pop-up in a shipping container in Brixton. While the three Krickets...

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SOMA Soho is the first bar venture of chef Will Bowlby and former accountant Rik Campbell, the men behind the three Kricket Restaurants located in Brixton, Soho and White City in London. Bowlby had worked in restaurants in Mumbai and reinterpreted his ideas of Indian cuisine for Krickets, ever since the first one opened in 2015 initially as a pop-up in a shipping container in Brixton.

While the three Krickets are food-focused, SOMA Soho is all about drinks and gathering in a slightly secretive space to share them. Like Krickets, SOMA Soho draws its inspiration from India, although the connection here is visually subtle and more obvious in the unusual and bold types of drinks on offer.

To realize their India-inspired speakeasy-bar, Bowlby and Campbell engaged Cake Architecture’s https://cake-architecture.com Hugh Moncrieff, and interior designer and gallerist, Max Radford.

Located behind a discreet door in a basement on a side street in Soho, SOMA Soho has an air of secrecy and darkness, but also an inviting sense of togetherness. The owners say that they felt that the post-pandemic bar really had to be about interaction and connection. People want to put their phones away and enjoy real human interaction.

The key feature of the main space is a nine-metre, hand-finished stainless-steel bar. It was custom-created in cooperation with BehindBars Agency https://behindbars.agency , a respected, Oslo, Norway-based design agency focused on bar furnishings. The bar is fitted with five sunken communal wine-cooler wells in which the patrons can keep and share their wine bottles.

The designers at Cake Architecture looked into Indian traditions, festivals and colours and selected the hues of dark indigo, saffron, orange, red, brown and silver for the interior. Heavy indigo drapery softens the bar space and also acts as screens and dividers to conceal three more intimate, arch-defined cubicles, a timber-clad lounge and the back-of-house areas.

The owners say that their friend, interior designer Max Radford was instrumental in selecting the unusual materials, including the curtain that is made of an upholstery fabric. He also selected the Dreadnought Staffordshire Blue tiles that cover the floors and extend across the walls and ceiling of the vaulted lobby. They are generally used for outdoor spaces, but at SOMA Soho they help evoke a sense of a midnight gathering on a piazza.

SOMA Soho’s tagline is “In search of the Divine’ — a lofty goal for any enterprise. And according to the owners, soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that means to distil and extract. And that, in turn, can be interpreted as a practical, albeit extremely demanding task. In SOMA Soho, Bowlby and Campbell have set their sights on something that they will never achieve and therefore — to the delight of their patrons — they will continue innovate and create. Tuija Seipell

Images by Felix Speller

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Victor Churchill Butcher Shop, Melbourne, Australia https://thecoolhunter.net/victor-churchill-butcher-shop-melbourne-australia/ Tue, 16 Nov 2021 02:51:46 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17191 When Vic and Anthony Puharich opened their first retail butcher shop, Victor Churchill, on Queen Street in Sydney’s Woollahra neighbourhood 10 years ago, we knew they were on to something unusual. We wrote about them then with enthusiasm and although it was the father-and-son duo’s first retail endeavour, it was obvious to us they were in it for real. Every detail in the Sydney boutique was thought through from the...

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When Vic and Anthony Puharich opened their first retail butcher shop, Victor Churchill, on Queen Street in Sydney’s Woollahra neighbourhood 10 years ago, we knew they were on to something unusual. We wrote about them then with enthusiasm and although it was the father-and-son duo’s first retail endeavour, it was obvious to us they were in it for real.

Every detail in the Sydney boutique was thought through from the tiniest aspect of the interior to the super-exclusive selection of products, and to the elegant, attentive service. This was sheer retail theatre but without the fake over-reaching theatrics so prevalent in retail then and even more so today. This was traditional, old-school retail, yet it completely fit in the contemporary context and met the surprised clientele’s needs and desires they didn’t even know they had. It was the surprise of it all that made it so magical.

And now, when they have opened their second exclusive retail environment on High Street in Melbourne’s Armadale, we are equally excited. The same values and enchantment are present here, yet this is not a cookie-cut copy of the Sydney boutique. This is its own environment with new ideas baked into the same traditional values and approach.

The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain also became enamored with the Sydney shop, calling it “the most beautiful butcher shop in the world” during one of his episodes filmed there. The Puharichs were dreaming of opening another store in one of the great cities in the world, so there was a synergy there. “Actually, we had plans to do a shop with Bourdain in New York, but that of course did not happen, sadly,” Anthony Puharich tells The Cool Hunter.

“Instead, we decided to open in Melbourne with the same values and principles we’ve established in our Sydney store.” The physical Melbourne store space carries with it some impressive history as well, although this is not a historic butcher shop like the Victor Churchill premises in Sydney. The Melbourne shop is located in the Heritage-listed site of the oldest State Savings bank of Victoria.

Designer Rod Faucheux of Surry Hills, Sydney-based loopcreative has taken the owners’ philosophy and the traditions and experiences of the Sydney shop and translated it all into a unique, new experience. It carries many of the hallmark features of the first shop including the Himalayan salt bricks in the curing rooms, the centrally located solid-wood butcher blocks, and the marble flooring.

Dramatic lighting, dark hues, and curving forms are also present in both stores. In the Melbourne shop, the attention to detail is impressive and includes the sausage-shaped door handles and an original, fully restored Berkel slicer from the 1930s that is in constant use, evoking the traditions and history of the profession of butchery.

What we love about this company is the fact that this is their second store. It would have been more typical and very tempting to start cloning the surprising success of the first store as soon as possible and in doing so, change the company’s nature to something that the owners clearly are not interested in. We love that. Knowing who you are, knowing what you love and what you stand for.

We also love it that the Melbourne store is a full-body experience. Not a single screen in sight. This shop has that same captivating, entrancing theatrical feel as the Sydney shop, but no-one entering the store would think of “retail theatre” here either.

Instead, the guests are inhaling the scents, admiring the displays, watching the demonstrations, tasting the samples, chatting with each other and with the team members. They are participating, engaging and enjoying.

Anthony Puharich is a fourth-generation butcher and the family’s meat distribution company, Vic’s Premium Quality Meat, established in 1996, has become Australia’s leading distributor of high-quality meat. The Pucharichs come to the meat business with high credentials.

But what has been so delightful is their retail success in a category that has not been seen as sexy or interesting. So when their Sydney store opened, it drew a lot of attention including winning prestigious retail design prizes in competitions where butcher shops had never even participated before let alone won.

We believe that when you do something well and actually do it for real, not just to draw attention or make money, you stand out. People can tell the difference. Even in today’s crazy competitive retail world. Perhaps especially in today’s crazy retail world. Tuija Seipell 

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HEYTEA, Xi’an, China https://thecoolhunter.net/heytea-xian-china/ Mon, 18 Oct 2021 02:14:40 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17140 Located near the ancient Xi’an City Wall’s Yongning (South) Gate in Xi’an, the new HEYTEA café is aiming to connect the past with the present. This is nothing new as pretty much every café project coming out of China right now reveals similar aspirations. Designers trip over themselves talking about emerging lifestyles and historical metaphors, experiential spaces and digital highlights. But straddling both the respected, ancient history of the Chinese...

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Located near the ancient Xi’an City Wall’s Yongning (South) Gate in Xi’an, the new HEYTEA café is aiming to connect the past with the present. This is nothing new as pretty much every café project coming out of China right now reveals similar aspirations. Designers trip over themselves talking about emerging lifestyles and historical metaphors, experiential spaces and digital highlights.

But straddling both the respected, ancient history of the Chinese cities and the demands of the young urban consumer culture is not an easy task. Separate from the cacophony of hype and the lifestyle-aware customers’ need to be seen in the right paces with the right people, customers are there to enjoy the drinks and the company of their friends.

Taking into account all of these demands and objectives, the designers of this tea store, Leaping Creative, have created an elegantly modern milieu in a challenging location where a contemporary shop could easily become dwarfed by the presence of the massive, ancient wall and gate just across the street.

The use of the locally typical yellowish sandstone hue in the décor and embellishing it with bright yellow and silver tones is a smart combination. Glass, steel and tile dominate as wall and partition materials, while yellow resin and weathered cave stone were used to create the irregular-shaped, customized furnishings. The arched doorways echo the ancient wall and gates, but the glass front of the store creates an inviting openness that connects rather than separates.

Leaping Creative has created several stores for the HEYTEA brand, including the HEYTEA LAB in Guangzhou. Leaping Creative was founded in 2010 by London, England-educated product designer Zen Zheng.

HEYTEA’s first store was a tiny café in Jiangmen, Guagngdong province. The company, initially named Royal Tea, was established in 2012 by the then-20-year-old Yunchen Nie. His idea of creating a Starbucks-style, upscale tea phenomenon really took off in 2017 when the newly named HAYTEA became a hot social media brand. His initial tea invention, the cheese tea, is still a core product in the brand’s more than 250 stores all across China.

Since 2018, HAYTEA has become known also as a brand that pushes the store design category by using different designers for its stores allowing them to create a distinctively different image for each. Tuija Seipell

Images: Minjie Wang

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Blue Bottle Café, Osaka, Japan https://thecoolhunter.net/blue-bottle-cafe-osaka-japan/ Thu, 07 Oct 2021 09:20:42 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17126 Blue Bottle Coffee the American chain established by musician James Freeman in California in 2002, has opened its first permanent store in Osaka, Japan. Now owned by the global consumer-brand giant Nestle, the chain opened its first three Japanese stores in 2015 in Tokyo and it now has about 20 stores in total in Japan. In Osaka, before opening this permanent store, Blue Bottle had a quick month-long pop-up of...

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Blue Bottle Coffee the American chain established by musician James Freeman in California in 2002, has opened its first permanent store in Osaka, Japan. Now owned by the global consumer-brand giant Nestle, the chain opened its first three Japanese stores in 2015 in Tokyo and it now has about 20 stores in total in Japan. In Osaka, before opening this permanent store, Blue Bottle had a quick month-long pop-up of cold beverages at the Daimaru Osaka/Umeda department store in July this year.

The Osaka café is located on the first and ground floors of a new concrete-and-glass building in the Chayamachi district. The area is known as having a historically rich cultural mix of arts, theaters and broadcasting stations, and it also includes office towers and other commercial facilities.

The café was designed by Tokyo-based Studio I IN www.i-in.jp, who founded the studio in 2018, has created a minimalist fusion of many influences in the 345-square-metre (3,713 sq.ft) Osaka café. The strong Japanese tea culture of the area, the minimalist, blue-glass-bottle dominated graphic language of the brand, and the desire to separate the two levels of the café, each with its own vibe – all of this influenced the clean, almost sterile feel of the café where the main materials are glass, stainless steel and concrete.

The first level is open and spacious with wood and stainless steel dominating the otherwise sparse space that also has the obvious Blue Bottle brand accents of blue glass. The second level is infused with a digital overlay created by Tokyo-based Panoramatiks. According to the designers, customers sitting in this upper-level area will encounter a “sensory experience where music and images ’fall’ from the ceiling.”

Blue Bottle cafes all sport the minimalist blue bottle logo. According to the company website, the name stems from a historic tale that involves coffee beans and heroics, and led to the establishment of the first-ever central-European coffee-house in Vienna called Blue Bottle. This tale does not divulge why the café was so called but that is how the American chain, some 300-plus years later was named Blue Bottle.

In all, Blue Bottle Coffee has about 100 cafes in major US and Japanese cities plus a couple in Seoul and Hong Kong. Like all companies following consumer trends, Blue Bottle Café has announced its commitment to sustainability. Blue Bottle commits to carbon neutrality by 2024 according to Karl Strovnik, CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, quoted on Nestle’s website last month. Tuija Seipell

Photography Tomoki Kengaku

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Estro, Italian Restaurant, Hong Kong https://thecoolhunter.net/estro-italian-restaurant-hong-kong/ Mon, 04 Oct 2021 08:46:52 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17114 One of Hong Kong’s newest restaurants, Estro was created by such a level of celebrated talent that it could have been a problematic enterprise and a painful process. Michelin-star chef Antimo Maria Merone, multiple award-winning restaurant operator, founder and CEO of JIA, Yenn Wong, and highly acclaimed architect and designer André Fu, each have an impressive CV. And if celebrity TV-chefs, cantankerous starchitects and ruthless business moguls were the rule...

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One of Hong Kong’s newest restaurants, Estro was created by such a level of celebrated talent that it could have been a problematic enterprise and a painful process. Michelin-star chef Antimo Maria Merone, multiple award-winning restaurant operator, founder and CEO of JIA, Yenn Wong, and highly acclaimed architect and designer André Fu, each have an impressive CV.

And if celebrity TV-chefs, cantankerous starchitects and ruthless business moguls were the rule rather than the exceptions promoted for the sake of publicity, the Estro players merited fame and accolades could have led to unhealthy ego and uncompromising inflexibility. However, in the case of Estro, the Hong Kong-based trio seems to have found a common path from the start. Perhaps there were auspicious omens at play, as JIA means ‘home’ in Mandarin and Estro means ‘inspiration’ in Italian.

The result is indeed an ‘inspired home’, a sexily eclectic Italian salotto, a sitting room in a traditional Neapolitan villa with its eccentric past and busy present. In fact, everything from design to menu at Estro seems to be a combination of several aspects. And by being so, it is a reflection of life itself. Not black and white, but shades of many colours.

At Estro, the colour scheme is rich and autumnal, and the form language curvy and slightly crazy. Large-patterned wallpapers, richly textured velvets and painted walls are accented by coloured marble, cast-iron gates, mid-century modernist wood and even murals created by Hong Kong-based Elsa Jean de Dieu.

We love the residential feel that is decidedly opulent but not ostentatious. The space appears to be a result of years of disparate collecting and accumulating, yet the focus is unmistakeably on eating, food and enjoyment, not on the surroundings. Very Italian indeed.

Estro is the first independent restaurant for Naples-born chef Merone who first arrived in Hong Kong in 2012 to work alongside chef Philippe Leveille of the highly regarded L’Altro. He has now returned to Hong Kong from Macau where he served as executive chef of 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana from 2014 to 2020 earning the restaurant its first Michelin star. This time, his first task in Hong Kong was to helm the first pop up restaurant at Tatler Dining Kitchen at Haus in cooperation with JIA Group’s Yenn Wong.

Singapore-born Yenn Wong founded the JIA hospitality group in 2010 with Italian restaurant 208 Duocento Otto. Since then, she has become a significant player in Hong Kong’s dining scene operating 12 restaurants including Michelin-starred Duddell’s and Louise, and Chinese, Thai, French and Spanish concepts such as Ando, Chachawan and Potato Head.

Hong Kong-born architect and designer André Fu holds a Masters in Architecture degree from Cambridge University. He’s known for opulent luxury environments, especially hotels and restaurants around the globe. These include Villa La Coste in Provence, The Berkeley in London, St Regis Hotel in Hong Kong, Hotel The Mitsui in Kyoto. He launched product and accessory brand André Fu Living in 2019. Tuija Seipell

Estro is located at Level 2, 1 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong.

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Theorem Winery, Calistoga, California, USA https://thecoolhunter.net/theorem-winery-calistoga-california-usa/ Fri, 20 Aug 2021 01:46:41 +0000 https://thecoolhunter.net/?p=17036 Theorem Vineyards is one of many wineries located in Calistoga in the Diamond Mountain area of California’s Napa Valley. This region is known as a world-class winemaking region as its volcanic soil and mild climate are ideal for wine growing. With its lush mountain valleys, the area is also known for its breathtaking scenery and it is popular as a vacation destination. One of the features we love about the recently...

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Theorem Vineyards is one of many wineries located in Calistoga in the Diamond Mountain area of California’s Napa Valley. This region is known as a world-class winemaking region as its volcanic soil and mild climate are ideal for wine growing. With its lush mountain valleys, the area is also known for its breathtaking scenery and it is popular as a vacation destination.

One of the features we love about the recently completed Theorem winery building in Calistoga is the fact that architect Richard Beard has allowed the location, its historical buildings and the vines outside to become the main characters. Huge windows, a see-though passage and a trellised segment suggest an enclosed space but they do not lock the visitor in. The rows of vines, the mountains and the property’s other buildings are always visible. There is a sense of place and history, yet the new winery building is contemporary and sleek.

The almost 9,000 square-foot (836 sq.m) structure serves as the production facility of the Theorem wine label and also as the home for the winery’s small-group, by-invitation-only tour- and visit program. The exclusive visits include the recent, $750-US-per-person Theorem Vineyards Baccarat Tasting Experience offered in cooperation with the French glassware artisans at Baccarat.

The new facility is the latest piece of the 60-acre property that is home to several buildings from the late 1800s. Some of them were originally built as a country retreat for a San Francisco doctor, Beverly Cole. The buildings include a small schoolhouse and a distinguished Greek-revival cottage known as the Cole House restored and remodeled by Richard Beard in 2016 prior to master-planning the entire property for the new winery.

Beard’s clients, Texas-based Kisha and Jason Itkin, purchased the property after several years of vacationing in the area. The buildings were derelict at the time but Beard and the clients saw the potential. Beard was charged with developing the property to include a winery and a residence.

In charge of interior design for both the 2016 restoration and the new winery is Nicholas Proietti, principal of San Francisco-based Nicholas Vincent design.

And although winemaking itself is an indoor activity, Beard’s and Proietti’s work has connected wine growing and wine making in a seamless way. The landscaping and scenery take centre stage. We love the new structure, its simplicity and its minimalism. There is no attempt to resemble a retail or hospitality space which is a welcome change in the sea of sameness of the ubiquitous wine-tasting spaces that have popped up everywhere from shopping malls to upscale residential high-rises. Here at Theorem winery, the tasting experience is a full-body immersion in where and how the wine is made.

In addition to the tasting areas, the winery complex includes the crush pad, various storage rooms, a full restroom, and a laboratory-office. The production capacity is 8,412 cases of wine.

Richard Beard studio, established in 2015 by Richard Beard, is located in the Dogpatch neighbourhood of San Francisco. The firm’s clients include Polo Ralph Lauren, Mumm Napa Valley, Agassi-Graff LLC and the US National Park Service. Tuija Seipell

Images: Paul Dyer

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