From a modern diner in an old chapel to a white-washed cabinet of
curiosities decorated with 10,000 animal bones, Gestalten’s new book, Let’s Go Out Again
features some of the most unusual and spectacular restaurant interiors
around the world. We’ve picked 10 of the most impressive - Bronda, HelsinkiSet in a former bakery and cafe, Bronda is one of a collection of five sleek brasserie-style restaurants run by Finnish chefs Tomi Björck and Matti Wikberg. High ceilings, big windows and a hint of the nautical provide the backdrop for a menu of mostly Mediterranean-inspired dishes. The bar offers snacks, salads, burgers and views of Esplanadi park.
+358 10 322 9383, ravintolabronda.fi Design: futudesign
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The Press Club, MelbourneThe design has been said to blend the cool and rational with the voluptuous and sublime, but larger than life is perhaps a more succinct description of George Calombaris’s Greek fine-dining establishment. A new menu was unveiled a few weeks ago and features four-, six- and nine-course options. There’s also an Olympus menu – which may serve only to reinforce the scale of inventiveness on offer here.
+61 3 9677 9677, thepressclub.com.auDesign: March Studio -
Hubbox, Truro, Cornwall When Hubbox outgrew its original location – a shipping container - it found an equally unusual new home in a 19th-century Wesleyan chapel. Pop art and graffiti create a diner atmosphere, although the original buttresses and stained glass give height and light not usually found in the US originals. The menu caters to the current obsession for gourmet American classics: burgers, hotdogs, pulled pork. Its original occupants would probably not approve.01872 240700, hubbox.co.ukDesign: Meor Studio
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Mikkeller & Friends, CopenhagenThe blond wood, shiny turquoise floors, picnic benches and bright lighting of this Bierstube could hardly be further from the dark pub of old. It also provides a light space for the city’s craft beer aficionados during Denmark’s long, dark winters. The second bar in the city by local microbrewer Mikkeller, it offers more than 40 beers on tap and 200 bottled beers from around the world.
+45 3583 1020, mikkeller.dk/mikkeller-friendsDesign: Karsten K Lülloff and Kristian Lillelund of Rum4 -
Ammo, Hong KongThe site’s history as a munitions depot is referenced through the steel textures that dominate its startling design – led by Joyce Wang, it takes its inspiration from the Alphaville, a 1965 science fiction film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The à la carte menu is Italian-inspired but its culinary diversity extends to tapas … and afternoon tea.+852 2537 9888, ammo.com.hk
Design: Joyce Wang - Saul, Zona 14, Guatemala City Guatemala City is not a place many tourists linger, but if you do find yourself with time here, seek out Saul, if only to admire its design. Its menu has an international flavour, with pizza, pasta, burgers and crepes, but its design is more intoxicating. The futuristic ‘stretched’ plaster façade is in stark contrast to the nature-inspired terrace, where a canopy of hanging green, blue and yellow invoke the country’s jungle.+502 2278 9914, saulmendez.comDesign: Taller Ken
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Gotthards Krog, SwedenGottards, the restaurant of the Stora Hotellet hotel in Umea, northern Sweden, is named after Gottard Zetterberg, the original proprietor, who set off on a madcap adventure to Greenland to see if any of it really was green. Life at sea is the theme running through the plush interior. Octopuses on the wallpaper, seashell shaped seats and brass instruments are atmospherically lit by ship’s lanterns. The menu uses local ingredients flavoured with spices from port cities around the world.+46 90 690 3300, gotthardskrog.se
Design: Stylt Trampoli AB -
The Springs, Los AngelesIn Downtown LA’s Arts District, you’ll find this multi-purpose venue offering an organic juice bar, yoga studio and wellness centre, as well as a raw vegan restaurant and wine bar. Executive chef Michael Falso presides over a pared-back but still adventurous menu that includes Reubens, Rangoons and tuna roll starters, seven salad selections and mains of sweetcorn ravioli, and tostada. The design boasts pop art influences alongside what has been described as a crisp, bright pause from the industrial-design ethos.
+1 213 223 6226, thespringsla.com
Design: Design Bitches -
Hueso restaurant, Guadalajara, MexicoDem bones, dem bones... even though the name - which means bones in Spanish - is written on the exterior white-tiles, the first time visitor will be taken aback. The bleached interior of Hueso is a modern-day museum of curiosities, a collection of more than 10,000 cast aluminium animal bones, skulls and sketches are displayed on white-washed brick walls and wooden cabinets. Set in the Lafayette design district of Guadalajara, an underrated pueblo town north west of Mexico City.+52 33 3615 3591, huesorestaurant.comDesign: Cadena+asociados
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Gamsei, MunichOrganic materials are the order of the day at this bar that also adheres to a think-local-act-local ethos: food and cocktail ingredients come from local farmers and even the designers, Wagner and Kreft, are Munich locals. The bar’s owner, Matthew Bax, finds himself in charge of an environment where a bright and welcoming interior is complemented with white ceramic bottles, filled with house-made liqueurs, syrups and essences, hanging from a black metal lattice above guests’ heads. Buttermelcherstrasse 9, Munich, no website
Design: Buero Wagner
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Let’s Go Out Again: interiors for restaurants, bars and unusual food places is published by Gestalten, priced at €39.90
