Hospitality Design - July 2018 - 56

perspectives

trends fast casual
3+4. For the Prague
location of Burrito
Loco, sombreros were
transformed into
hanging lights, while
cacti-both abstract
and more literal
representations-adorn
the walls.

how the white wireframe results in a virtual
realistic perspective, as if I can look right
through a wall."

Burrito Loco, Prague

Bringing a dash of Mexican spice to Prague,
Czech-based design studio FormaFatal had
some fun with the latest Burrito Loco location,
using characteristic materials in innovative
ways as a contrast to a bright blue canvas.
"Mexico is full of colors, cheap materials,
and creative uses for them-a distinctive
feature is variety and glamour," explains firm
founder Dagmar Stepanova. For the Prague
outpost, pink accents lay the groundwork for
more Mexican-themed moments, including
hanging lights made of sombreros and white
paper garlands suspended on trees that rest
in tin stands. That said, "the essential element
is the cactus symbol," she points out, "which
is dominant in the interior and stylized in
different forms," including arched walls awash
in the plant's form.

3

Photos by DIRK WEIBLEN, NIRUT BENJABANPOT, and BOYS PLAY NICE

4

Mean Noodles, Hong Kong

to her home city last year. Set on a corner
location inside the Sun Moon Light shopping
center, "we wanted to open the restaurant up
and blur the boundaries between restaurant
and public space," she explains. While the
other storefronts in the brand feature a rustic
design, Luk wanted to "continue the language
of the metal [noodle] rack but create something
more refined," she adds. That led to the white

056

July 2018 hospitalitydesign.com

trapezoidal wire grid that frames the storefront,
reappearing inside as a ceiling installation,
shelving, and screens between the various
seating zones. The stark white piece is offset
for a warmer interior, done in wood, gray tile
flooring, and black chairs. Meanwhile, as a nod
to the other locations, suspended steel wires
mimic hanging noodles and add a rhythm to
the 1,600-square-foot space. Says Luk: "I love

OpenUU design duo Caroline Chou and
Kevin Lim didn't only craft Hong Kong's
Mean Noodles, they own and operate it as
well, "infusing our love of good design and our
passion for delicious food" into a sleek noodle
joint, Lim explains. Located in a back alley off
NewMarket Street in the Sheung Wan area,
the goal was to create a speakeasy-type space
specializing in Southeast Asian noodles that
would also blend into the neighborhood, thanks
to a subtle green stainless-steel entrance. Chou
and Lim were inspired by Malaysian Batik
fabrics, an abstraction of which makes up a
patterned-tiled wall. "The colors are light and
vibrant with carefully crafted lines and floral
patterns on the fabrics," Chou adds. Marble
tabletops and mosaic tiles complement the open
kitchen's green grout-finished subway tiles
and mustard-colored seating. Interior finishes
extend to the alcove just beyond the entryway,
"setting the mood for customers as they enter,"
she notes. hd
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