This is one of my favourite projects to date as the brief was very open and the owners were also very open to outside the box suggestions and thinking.
The brief was to breath new life into the restaurant of 20 years. Bringing the popularity of their basement bar to ground level while still being able to run the space as a restaurant in the earlier hours of the night.
We created a sub-brand called "The Sake Bar" and treat the space like a performance with different acts throughout the night.
Act.1. A place to eat beautiful Japanese cuisine, relax and enjoy some Sake
Act.2. The curtains come down, the lighting dims, The restaurant is halved in size and the hostess counter is taken away allowing people who enter the space to move in freely and seat themselves
Treating the space as two different acts has helped maintain a steady flow of people late in to the night when previously it would have become quiet after 10pm with patrons retreating to the basement for more drinks.
