205 Verde Mar Mexican Restaurant 綠海墨西哥餐廳2015. Wanchai, Hong Kong 香港灣仔
Team Lee Shu-fan, Ma Orchid, Lo Alex, Chan DerekClient Verde MarContractor Castle EngineeringAREA 77smBranding ideas2goPhotography Steve Kwok Photography
[The Mex Cluster]
Dining out is a complicated experience. Customers nowadays don’t merely go for good food, friendly services, comfortable environment, and reasonable pricing - which is already a challenging, if not impossible, combination for the operators to provide. People now seek for uniqueness and inspirations from their dining experience in addition to the physical properties mentioned above. How do you design a space that is all of the above and beyond? Verde Mar is an attempt to do just that.
Mexican food is full of vivid colors, unique scents, and amazing varieties of presentations. This richness evokes passion, opening up the most timid types to engage in sometimes meaningful, sometimes pure fantasy conversations. The design of Verde Mar with its metal frames resembling the silhouettes of traditional Mexican dwellings in cluster, attempts to contain these wonderful conversations in memories. They serve to demarcate the different zones in the relatively small space, giving each a feeling of individuality regardless of their sizes. The metal frames are hand-painted with colorful marks of paints, further enhancing the uniqueness of individual houses, as if diners are gathering around a small Mexican town spending time with fellow villagers before heading to Verde Mar (the Green Ocean) for further festivities. Together with the handicrafts from the owner’s collection and the handcrafted textures all around, the space facilitates a newly formed yet instantly familiar experience that goes beyond the short dining hour and your longing to come back for more.
Dining out is a complicated experience. Customers nowadays don’t merely go for good food, friendly services, comfortable environment, and reasonable pricing - which is already a challenging, if not impossible, combination for the operators to provide. People now seek for uniqueness and inspirations from their dining experience in addition to the physical properties mentioned above. How do you design a space that is all of the above and beyond? Verde Mar is an attempt to do just that.
Mexican food is full of vivid colors, unique scents, and amazing varieties of presentations. This richness evokes passion, opening up the most timid types to engage in sometimes meaningful, sometimes pure fantasy conversations. The design of Verde Mar with its metal frames resembling the silhouettes of traditional Mexican dwellings in cluster, attempts to contain these wonderful conversations in memories. They serve to demarcate the different zones in the relatively small space, giving each a feeling of individuality regardless of their sizes. The metal frames are hand-painted with colorful marks of paints, further enhancing the uniqueness of individual houses, as if diners are gathering around a small Mexican town spending time with fellow villagers before heading to Verde Mar (the Green Ocean) for further festivities. Together with the handicrafts from the owner’s collection and the handcrafted textures all around, the space facilitates a newly formed yet instantly familiar experience that goes beyond the short dining hour and your longing to come back for more.
[墨聚落]
出外用餐是一個多重的體驗，食客不只為了美食而選擇到訪某餐廳。親切的服務、舒適的環境、合理的價錢等等，都是客人會看重的部份。而除這些實質條件外，獨特且具創意的氛圍都漸漸成了現今客人的要求。設計餐廳內部時要如何兼顧以上種種？Verde Mar (綠海) 項目就嘗試做到。
墨西哥食物鮮艷活潑，風味獨特，擺盤亦精彩多變。面對如此豐富熱情的氣氛，就算是羞怯內向的人，都可輕鬆參與意味深長或天馬行空的話題。小屋狀的金屬框架是 Verde Mar 設計上其中一個巧思，其參巧了墨西哥簇居居所的概念，嘗試將用餐體驗比擬成美好的聚落傳統。小屋形狀分隔開餐廳用餐區的不同空間，並以人手繪上斑斕的顏料去加強每間小屋的獨特性，令客人到 Verde Mar 用餐時，能像墨西哥村落的鄰居般邊吃喝邊交流。設計配合上東主個人收藏的手工藝品作點綴，成了新式但又具熟悉感的空間，讓客人不只逗留短暫的用餐時間，而是離開後在印象中還會想「回去」的地方。
