Xi Ding Dumpling Restaurant — Dalian, China
In China, the Xi Ding brand has tended to be associated with dumplings served fast-food style. All the more to applaud the unveiling of its unexpectedly elegant flagship eatery in the port city of Dalian in northwest China.
Here, the services of RIGIdesign have been tapped to create a comparatively sleek dining experience that also doubles as a canny rebranding exercise. From the outset, the restaurant’s MO is telegraphed to passers-by with a glassed-off frontage behind which a team of cooks rolls and folds the restaurant’s titular dumplings on a white marble counter. But even here, the design intention looms large with the entrance framed by a mix of stucco and gray panels embossed with a rattan pattern. RIGIdesign’s bent for geometric patterns is shown off to great effect in the interiors with ribbed ceiling grilles, walls encased in regimented rows of white-cast reliefs of dinner plates and bowls, and textured dividing panels lined with rattan, the latter a traditional, rustic material that’s given a modern makeover in this setting.
In the evenings, clusters of lamps encased in decorative baskets throw comforting mood light. The overall effect, say the designers, is an homage to the tradition and history of the dumpling, though the greater triumph, we think, is the lush seafood dumpling.
ADDRESS
L5027-B
Pavilion Dalian
No 129-3, Zhongshan Road
Zhongshan District
Dalian City
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Alternative Easter eggs: chocolate-free but cracking gifts and indulgences
The humble egg, Easter's favourite ingredient, celebrated in five alternative forms, from a picnic cutlery canteen to a fabulous foamy dessert
By Caragh McKay Published
-
The Devil is a flawed everyman in Nick Cave’s ceramics
A show of Nick Cave’s ceramics, ‘The Devil – A Life’ at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels, explores the complex character
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Sweet Easter treats to tweet about
Five Easter treats, from chocolate chicks and rabbits to almond cake, that are delectable enough to gift all year round
By Caragh McKay Published
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotel
Palazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
By Chadner Navarro Published
-
West Kowloon wonders to discover now
Cultural and culinary adventures, extraordinary spaces and outstanding experiences in West Kowloon, Hong Kong
By Simon Mills Last updated
-
Ramshackle farmhouse in China's Hubei province gets a slick makeover
The reimagined farmhouse is now a contemporary bolthole
By Lauren Ho Last updated
-
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland
By Daven Wu Last updated
-
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia
By Dimity Noble Last updated
-
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
By Jennifer Choo Last updated
-
Beast x Gubi House — Shanghai, China
By Cat Nelson Last updated