Bringing to life the darkly shiny opulence of dining rooms of the past was the goal of chef-owners Craig Harding and Julian D’Ippolito when they set out to create Bar Prima in Toronto’s Queen West neighbourhood.

Toronto-based Future Studio  was entrusted with the owners’ retro ideas and they have delivered a stunning setting. It reflects both an Italian vibe and an “old Toronto diner” feel in its brown panelling, mirrors and gold touches that are enhanced with rich blue upholstery and red velvet drapery.

The star attractions of the vintage visual show, however, are definitely the floor and the ceiling. Bar Prima’s ceiling was gold-leafed by hand by a professional gilder. It is a startling sight that draws everyone’s eyes up in the otherwise low and low-lit space.

The other stunner is the floor. Again, artisans recreated it following a 1960s pattern of marble floor that originally covered the floor of the Rome residence of American artist and sculptor, Cy Twombly (1928-2011).

With the background sound of Italian disco, and a menu of traditional Italian with a twist, Bar Prima is not stuffy or painfully retro. There’s a sense of fun and surprise and innovative thinking that the owners are keen to explore further in this undertaking.

Bar Prima is Harding and D’Ippolito’s second Toronto restaurant following the Dundas Street La Palma. Tuija Seipell

Images Rick O’brien

The post Bar Prima, Queen West – Toronto, Canada appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Known for staging outlandish events and creating lavish interiors for a client list of celebrities, business tycoons and socialites, Ken Fulk has left his extravagant mark on yet another icon.

This time, his magic touch has revitalized the interior of the landmark Miami Women’s Club building, located in the Edgewater neighborhood on Biscayne Bay.

Designed in 1926 by architect August Geiger as one of the first public libraries in Florida, the Mediterranean Revival-style building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Although by now dilapidated and decaying, it inspired two hospitality industry movers and shakers, Groot Hospitality’s founder David Grutman and Tao Group Hospitality’s co-CEO Noah Tepperberg.

They purchased the building as their first cooperative venture and then invited Fulk to use his creative verve to transform the lower floors of the building into the aptly named Casadonna (house of the woman), a 20,000 square-foot dining emporium.

In Casadonna, Fulk is boldly and extravagantly channelling Havana and Miami, using the Floridian pastel pinks, blues and greens, and richly upholstered furniture. Live plants and plant-inspired fabrics, wall murals and art add a lush, relaxed feel for guests enjoying the establishment’s Riviera-style Italian cuisine.

Since 1997, when the Virginia-native Ken Fulk based his magic factory in San Francisco, he has approached his projects – from hotels to private parties – as a movie. He focuses on the point of view and on the core of the narrative. What is the story? Why should anyone care?

His book, The Movie in My Mind, was published in 2022 by Assouline. Today, Ken Fulk’s team includes approximately 90 ‘cast members’ in San Francisco and New York. Tuija Seipell

Images Ngoc Minh Ngo

The post Casadonna Restaurant – Miami, Florida appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Every day since its opening in 1785, Antica Macelleria Filippini Cristiano at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele has been the destination of meat-loving inhabitants of the small Tuscan town of Castelfranco di Sopra. Changing hands from generation to generation, the butcher shop stands today as it always has, perhaps more popular now than ever before.

Sensing an opportunity in this vitality, the Filippini family has now opened a modern trattoria across the Piazza. And while the kitchen hangs tightly onto the family’s ‘highest quality food’ tradition, there is much in the new Il Ristoro di Christiano Filippini that is completely contemporary and 70s disco funky.

The family engaged Florence-based Timothee Studio to create a restaurant deserving to carry the family’s traditions to tomorrow and to attract a demanding clientele.

The multi-discipline studio Timothee, founded in 2018 by Niccoló Antonielli, Cosimo Bonciani and Andrea Mascagni, is known for being a master of connecting vintage with contemporary.

The restaurant has a theatre-set vibe as the various spaces are dramatically unveiled to the guests when they step further into the historic premises.

We know the blood-red colour scheme is intended to draw our attention, and it does, but we cannot help going week in the knees when each ancient feature comes to view. The gorgeous sandy brick walls, and especially the vaulted ceilings, they are what makes this place special.

And while the shiny steel walls, the multi-colour mural, and Superstudio’s 1969-1972 Quaderna 2600 tables for Zanotta give the restaurant its contemporary ambiance, we love the old brick that reminds us of the Filippini family roots.

The dramatic lighting in the windowless space adds yet another layer of theatricality to this vibrant and welcome addition to the ancient Piazza. Tuija Seipell

Images Helenio Barbetta.

The post Il Ristoro di Cristiano Filippini, Castelfranco di Sopra, Tuscany, Italy appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

They opened their first PNY Burger (for Paris New York) at rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis in Paris in 2012. And the road to the first one was not a typical one or something they had planned. The two met at the prestigious Parisian business school HEC. After graduation, Guénaire, then 24, went on an almost five-month solo hike from the US/Mexico border along the Rockies to Canada.

Upon returning he contacted Rathamohan and convinced her to join him in opening an American-diner-inspired restaurant that focus on the highest quality.

From the start, interiors were extremely important to Guénaire who wanted to channel his diner experiences during his hike across the US, but with a modern twist. He hired the Parisian CUT Architecture and Belgian architect Bernard Dubois to design the first eight locations, all in Paris. But as they continued to expand, he took the design work on himself.

For the Nantes PNY Burger Guénaire has designed every single piece of furniture and fixturing. The latest edition still evokes the compact American diner aesthetic but with a luxurious, subdued and pastel-hued twist.

Dark wood panelling, a curved staircase and metal accents complete the harmonious ambiance in the restaurant where Guénaire has also added a few nods toward yachts. The partners continue to raise capital and open more restaurants. Their first funding round in 2014 generated a million Euros, the second in 2017 three million and the latest in June 2022 15 million Euros. In the next five years, they plan to open 50 new restaurants in France, Switzerland and Belgium. Tuija Seipell

Images: Ludovic Balay

The post PNY Burger restaurant, Nantes, France appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Barcelona-based Hazard Studio founder Alfredo Rodriquez has created a tiny puff ball of a restaurant, NM in the revitalized El Vasco Station shopping centre located in the town of Oviedo, in the Northwest of Spain.

The 25-seat, 75 square-metre (807 sq.ft) monochromatic space is one of the many restaurants helmed by the two-Michelin-star chef Nacho Manzano.

His most famous restaurants and food concepts include Casa Marcial (where the two Michelin stars come from) and the restaurant in the Narbasu Hotel (where he has gained one Michelin star).

The Manzano culinary enterprise dates back to 1993 when the then-23-year-old Nacho Manzano and his sisters started a restaurant in the family home in La Salgar, today known as Casa Marcial.

Nacho and Esther Manzano, along with their sisters Sandra and Olga, now own the Restaurants Casa Marcial, Narbasu Restaurant and Hotel, Gloria in Oviedo and Gijón, and Catering Manzano. Nacho Manzano is also partner and gastronomic director of Ibérica Restaurants in the UK with five restaurants in London and one in Leeds.

The tiny NM restaurant is part of the larger food court space, Nastura Oviedo in the El Vasco shopping centre. Hazard Studio was in charge of designing the larger food court space as well, and Nacho Manzano is in charge of the cuisine of the entire area.

The elegantly plated fresh food served at NM is based on a singular tasting menu that changes four times a year to take advantage of what is the freshest regionally. The Michelin guide describes the tasting menu’s freshness: “…it  is demonstrated on a single tasting menu that takes guests on a journey through the bountiful meadows, woods and mountains of Cantabria and the family’s market garden in Narbasu.”

Chef Manzano expresses it this way: “Our territory is the message on each of our plates. Here we are very fortunate, each season has its own personality and supplies us with its own products.”

The interior of NM is stunning in its monochromatic whiteness that brings to mind puff pastry, whipped butter and shortbread. Rounded corners and petal-like shapes look like large tacos or chips, some of which are pendant lighting from the Brass collection created by the Italian designer and architect, Paola Navone for Gervasoni.

Navone is the founder of Milan-based design OTTO studio that she operates with Gian Paolo Venier, Chiststina Pettenuzzo and Domenico Diego. Tuija Seipell

The post NM Restaurant, Oviedo, Asturia, Spain appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Lyon, France-born, two-Michelin-star chef Claude Bosi has opened a new culinary enterprise, Socca, located on Mayfair’s South Audley Street in a Grade II-listed building.

Socca describes its cuisine as “nostalgic French Mediterranean” and it gets its name from the flatbread made of chickpea flour known as socca, but also farinata, cecina or calentita, depending on the region.

The concept of Socca is the brainchild of co-founder Samyukta Nair of LSL Capital  and designer Tom Strother, who co-founded Fabled Studio  in Spitalfields, London, with Steven Saunders in 2011.

Socca is the sixth restaurant project created by Fabled Studio in partnership with Samyukta Nair and LSL Capital. Their other restaurant cooperations are Koyn, MiMi Mei Fair, Bombay Bustle and Jamavar in London, and Jamavar also in Doha.

The interior of Socca is eclectic and nostalgic, slightly prissy and decidedly French. The various nooks and seating areas are intimate if not cramped and give off an elegant, residential salon vibe. The colour scheme is mainly subdued pastels, our favourite being the baby blue that repeats in leather seating, the outdoor awning and the wall décor. Throughout the restaurant, the walls are covered with custom works by local artists.

LSL Capital is a group of restaurants founded by father and daughter Dinesh and Samyukta Nair, who hail from the founding family of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts.

Fabled Studio ‘s client list includes not just cooperation with LSL Capital but also, for example, Four Seasons in Prague, Hilton Conrad in Dublin, Harrods, Mariott and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London

Claude Bosi is known in London for his flagship restaurant, Claude Bosi at Bibendum located at Michelin House in Fulham, and Hibiscus that operated on Maddox Street from 2007 to 2016. Bibendum received its name from the restaurant’s location at the Michelin House, a British Art Nouveau-style building, opened in 1911 as the permanent UK headquarters of the Michelin Tyre Company. The name Bibendum was the original name of the Michelin Man and originated from a Roman poet Horace’s poem “Nunc est bibendum” (Now is the time to drink.) Tuija Seipell

Images courtesy of Fabled Studio

The post Socca Bistro, Mayfair, London, UK appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Starting a business at any time is risky and challenging. Starting one in particularly uncertain times is doubly so. But starting one when your country has just been attacked seems suicidal. And even more so when your business is a girly beauty salon with pink décor details.

But that is exactly what Kiev-based entrepreneurs Sabina Musina and Lera Borodina did. They opened G.Bar Brave, their sixth full-service salon in Kyiv, Ukraine, right in the middle of the Russian attack. Perhaps the distraction provided by the services helps local women forget the war for a fleeting moment.

This salon is a corporate store as are the other Kyiv salons, each with its own identifier: Big, Mini, Special, DODO and Babe. Brave seems like a perfect name reflecting the courageous front that Ukrainians have shown during the invasion, and it also mirrors the defiance of the two female founders.

The parent company G.Bar World was established by the two in 2015, and in addition to the six corporate salons in Kyiv, it now operates 30 franchised salons in 29 cities in 10 countries.

Currently, franchise salons have been established in Los Angeles (USA), Tallinn (Estonia), Prague (Czech Republilc), Tbilisi (Georgia), Madrid (Spain), Limassol (Cyprus), Frankfurt (Germany), and Krakow, Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland. The brand’s global online hub is G.Bar World.

The newest, G.Bar Brave, provides make up, hair styling, cuts and colouring, plus manicures and pedicures. It is a110 square-metre (1,184 sq.ft) space in an industrial building, The Arsenal Factory, established in 1764 by the Imperial Russian Army in the historic Kyiv Fortress compound.

The salon’s interior design incorporates the fortress’s brick arches that are now painted white within the store. Echoing these arches, blue archways are inserted into the interior with some of the walls painted in the same intense colour. The strong blue also repeats in some of the furnishings.

Startling neon-pink pieces counter the blue and white interior and serve as a tiny nod to the girly beginnings of the concept. In an older Ukrainian article, the founders described the G.Bar concept as a “pre-party space for girls before they go out.” The letter G signifies Girl, but also Gorgeous, Glow and Glorious, they said.

The first G.Bar in 2015 was located in a section of Borodina’s first enterprise, Oh My Look, an evening and party dress rental boutique with three Ukrainian outlets: Kyiv, Odessa and Dnipro. Tuija Seipell

Photography: Marian Beresh

The post G.Bar Brave Beauty Salon, Kyiv, Ukraine appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Designed by creative director Ana Hern of Valencia, Spain-based Masquespacio, the latest outlet of the Ichi Station sushi bar chain is located in a historic building on Via Solferino in Milan. It is a yummy, futuristic capsule of rounded peachiness.

The chain’s founder, owner and CEO, Yango Zhang, had developed the spaces for the chain’s other restaurants (8 in Milan, 1 in Turin), mosty known as take-out restaurants, but for the latest iteration, he wanted more of an unique environment for dining in.

The 80 square-metre (861 sq.ft) restaurant has a spaceship feel with its arched tunnel-like passages and shiny, orange surfaces. Adding to the space shuttle ambiance are the glowing, lighted custom tables and the laser-thin light-strips accentuating the edges of the arches that pre-existed in the space.

With the startling, futuristic design, Masquespacio is looking to transport the diners not only through culinary experiences but also through time and space.

Ichi Station describes itself as a place that was born as a crossroads of cultures, discovery and sharing. A departure and arrival and a journey of the senses that blends Japanese tradition with inspirations from countries around the world.

The food offering is created by Japanese master chef Haruo Ichikawa. He was previously the chef at Milan-based Michelin-starred Iyo. Today, he is also involved, for example in the Magnolia GastroBar at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze.

Masquespacio was founded in 2010 by Ana Milena Herndez Palacios and Chistophe Penasse. Their award-winning studio works globally in all aspects of design, form commercial spaces to product design. A typical characteristic of their work is their bold use of colour. We have covered several of their projects over the years, here & here. – Tuija Seipell

Photography Luis Beltran

The post Ichi Station Sushi Bar, Milan, Italy appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

With its long, turbulent history, Tbilisi, the capital and largest city of Georgia, is today a truly multicultural city and an eclectic mix of ancient, historical, Soviet-era and modern architecture and establishments.

Joining the growing ranks of trendy bistros, Chicos represents several of these characteristics with its international menu and cool interiors.

Chico’s opened late last year and, according to locals, it has already become not just the go-to-place for great breakfasts but also popular with its bistro lunches and fine dining in the evenings.

Located on the ground floor of a modern low-rise building, the restaurant occupies the total of 110 square metres (1,184 sq.ft) but has only 18 seats. The openness around the seating areas and the large windows that let in natural light are part of the overall plan, created by architects Beso Turazashvili and Nikita (Kith) Khudyakov, founders of Tbilisi-based multidisciplinary design practice Tamashi Studios and also part owners of the restaurant.

The designers also custom-created much of the furniture, including the bright-red pieces that pop out of the otherwise subdued colour scheme. The striking red shows up also in the kitchen and restrooms, connecting everything together but avoiding the danger of becoming a tiresomely overwhelming gimmick.

The restaurant’s internationally inspired menu was developed by French-trained chef Irene Perminof. It includes breakfast items such eggs benedict on French brioche with Norwegian salmon, and the popular Vake breakfast with scrambled eggs, French brie and truffle oil, Spanish turkey ham, avocado and whole wheat toast.

As one of the founders has lived in Buenos Aires, the menu also includes a selection of Spanish-and South-America-inspired dishes such as empanadas and tapas, and desserts that include the Basque cheesecake and alfajores, thecookie sandwiches with dulce de leche filling.

Chicos is located on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue in the Vake neighbourhood of Tbilisi. The avenue is named after the writer and political father figure Ilia Chavchavadze, regarded Georgia’s “most universally revered hero” and “the Father of the Nation.”

Tbilisi is a city of 1.5 mil people founded in the fifth century AD. It is located by the Kura River at the crossroads of Asia and Europe and has therefore been the battleground of multiple interests over the centuries. Tuija Seipell

Pebble mirror available here 

The post Chicos Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

With designers and architects tripping over themselves to interpret the latest, popular trends – often at the urging of their clients – it is easy to miss subtle genius or sensitive interpretations of vernacular styles.

When we saw Moos, a bar and café in Amsterdam, we almost passed it buy. It is not particularly striking, cool or elegant. Outside or in, it doesn’t try to impress or shock. But it has an interesting story to tell.

Designed by Amsterdam-based Studio Modijefsky, a nine-person firm established by Esther Stam in 2009, Moos is the latest entry into the Goudvisch Family of bars and cafes.

The client, Joost Lebesque of 3WO commissioned Studio Modijefsky to complete not just the interior of Moos but also to create the name and brand identity.

The story behind the unusual interior of Moos is based on the location, a ground-floor space in a corner building in the Spaarndammerhuut neighbourhood, best known for the innovative Het Schip housing complex.

It was designed in 1919 by Michel de Klerk, one of the founding members of the eclectic architectural style of the Amsterdam School in which buildings are generally made of brick with complicated masonry and rounded appearance. Amsterdam School style also featured elaborate building elements inside and out including decorative masonry, art glass, wrought ironwork, and integrated architectural sculpture. The aim was to create a total architectural experience including both the interior and exterior.

Moos certainly ticks of the eclectic box with its multitude of materials and elements. The overall muted red-brick-and-wood colour scheme ties together the otherwise busy interior that includes tiled surfaces, wood panelling, multi-patterned flooring and textured fabrics.

The two-level space is 108,5 square metres (1,162 sq.ft)  in size with the terrace adding another 45 square metres (484 sq. ft). The bar on the ground floor is made of marble with brass detailing and pale pink, beige and yellow tiling.

The mezzanine level features more modern accents such as mirrors, neon, bright colours and framed pictures in addition to the traditional features.

Studio Modijefsky is known for several public projects including the renovated Museum of Arnhem, Booking.com Amsterdam headquarters (restaurants and breakout rooms), and work at Schiphol Airport and Van Gogh Museum.

Lead by Esther Stam, the Moos team includs Moene van Werven, Natalia Nikolopoulou, Agnese Pellino, Ivana Stella, Felicia Urena and Blerina Xhigoli.

The Amsterdam School Museum Het Schip, located in the complex, is dedicated to this style. The structure gained is moniker, Het Schip (the Ship) from the shape of the red-brick building.

In addition to Moos, the Goudvisch Family of bars includes Bonnie, Arie op de Hoc and Neef van Fred, all located in central Amsterdam. Tuija Seipell

Images: Maarten Willemstein

The post Moos Bar & Café, Spaarndammerbuurt, Amsterdam, the Netherlands appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.