Hong Kong design agency Substance has added another innovative urban hospitality project to its growing portfolio. Named Paradis, the 62-seat restaurant and cosy bar evokes a colonial French-Caribbean theme celebrating its tropical fusion and creative spirit with a moody palette of rich textures and earthy tones offset with soft brushed gold finishes.
The designers took their cue from the Haitian goddess of the moon, Mawu, referenced in quirky bronze-clad lamps and custom-design rum bottles sporting tops shaped like the waning moon. Classic laid-back Caribbean vernacular is also on show with simple yet elegant timber louver-screens that add privacy between dining booths. Walls hand-painted with a tropical jungle mural add an exuberant colourful background to the low-lit space. ‘We envisaged Paradis as a place for the curious diner, the modern adventurer,’ explains Substance founder Max Dautresme.
With an in-house DJ, adventurous cocktail menu created by mixologist Alexandre Chatté, and an unpretentious menu featuring the likes of slow-cooked Iberico pork chop with candied yams, it’s no surprise Paradis draws a style-conscious French expatriate crowd keen to escape the madding crowds at the ubiquitous bars lining Wyndham Street a few floors below.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
46-48 Wyndham Street
-
Itapororoca House is nestled in the Brazilian forest overlooking its leafy coastal contextDesigned by Bloco Arquitetos, Itapororoca House is a treetop residence in Bahia, Brazil, offering a large wrap-around veranda to invite nature in
-
Sophie Smallhorn’s plywood tables for Uncommon Projects are colourful and modularThese modular tables by the artist and the plywood specialist play with colour for function, fun and flexibility
-
Aldo Frattini Bivouac is a mountain shelter, but not as you know itA new mountain shelter on the northern Italian pre-Alp region of Val Seriana, Aldo Frattini Bivouac is an experimental and aesthetically rich, compact piece of architecture
-
A discreet bolthole adds historic charm to Chongqing’s skyscraper jumbleWith a landscape bristling with gleaming towers, Sunyata Ren’ai Hall Hotel quietly emerges as the Chinese city’s most design-forward stay
-
Rosewood is searching for the next generation of women leadersThe Rosewood Foundation introduces ‘Rise to the Table,’ a fully sponsored initiative aimed at addressing the gender gap in the food and beverage sector
-
Discover a futuristic bar in Shanghai with mad-scientist energyPenicillin opens in Shanghai with a clinical steel and concrete design by LC Studio alongside trailblazing, sustainable cocktails
-
A colossal ‘ship’ in Shanghai honours Louis Vuitton’s travel legacyLouis Vuitton’s The Louis is an OMA-designed hub combining retail, culture and dining in the heart of Nanjing West Road
-
The Trip to Hong Kong: exploring a bold new capital of cultureA resilient desire to shift perceptions yet preserve heritage is driving a new energy in Hong Kong as the next generation creates a bold new capital of culture
-
Take off with the June 2025 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*Head to Hong Kong, paint the town red in Las Vegas, reimagine room service, and make a splash in sizzling swimwear – the June issue is hot to globe-trot, on newsstands now
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate 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 ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
