Noodle Rack — Changsha City, China

It’s unfortunate that China’s Hunan province tends to gets very little press other than as the Trivial Pursuit answer to the question of Chairman Mao Zedong’s birthplace. Though an important regional hub, it has nevertheless tended to cede the limelight to nearby Guangzhou. Even more obscure is its ancient capital Changsha, though, if the city of six million continues to produce more restaurants like the Noodle Rack, it won’t be long before this 2,000 year old city gets its long overdue close-up. Designed by the Shanghai-based Lukstudio, the restaurant is set in a mixed-used development with a fruit juice stall, ladies’ boutique and spa as its immediate neighbours. Styled like a traditional hole-in-the-wall street stall, the entrance, clad with bamboo-cast concrete and a vitrine framed with steel grids, leads into 50sqm space dominated by a central bar counter. Overhead is a light installation comprised of draped loops of thin metal wires that evoke the hand-made noodle drying on racks. The menu is based on Shaoyang-styled rice noodles lounging in a soup doused with a spicy oil made from freshly pressed canola flowers, though the less fiery option of beef noodles soup followed by a dessert of sticky rice and brown sugar is equally satisfying.
ADDRESS
W1003
Wanda Plaza
Zhongshan Road No.589
Kaifu District
Changsha City
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.
-
Boathouse Zaka is the radical renovation of an ageing structure into a light-filled workspace
OFIS Architects turns a traditional boathouse into a lakeside laboratory on one of Slovenia’s best-loved bodies of water
-
Mercedes streamlines the CLA Shooting Brake to create an aerodynamic electric load lugger
The new CLA Shooting Brake is the first ever electric estate car from Mercedes-Benz, a tour-de-force of quiet technology and elegant lines
-
Willy Chavarria: ‘We’re still so stuck in fashion‘s old guard’
As part of the August 2025 ‘Made in America’ issue of Wallpaper*, we invited three creative powerhouses to comment on the state of the States. Here, award-winning American fashion designer Willy Chavarria speaks on creative resilience, uniting with activist groups, and shaking up fashion’s old guard
-
Discover a futuristic bar in Shanghai with mad-scientist energy
Penicillin opens in Shanghai with a clinical steel and concrete design by LC Studio alongside its trailblazing, sustainable cocktails
-
A colossal ‘ship’ in Shanghai honours Louis Vuitton’s travel legacy
Louis Vuitton’s The Louis is an OMA-designed hub combining retail, culture and dining in the heart of Nanjing West Road
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the world
Celebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in Shanghai
Prada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing café
JM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy design
There’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillity
Alila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this year
From the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025