The latest endeavour from Hong Kong-based architect Andre Fu is a two-level contemporary Japanese restaurant sporting a mezzanine level dedicated to a hip sake bar.
Keeping with Japanese tradition, the entrance - an elegant hallway lined with bamboo posts – is an understated affair inspired by the elegant bamboo torii (gates) at an ancient Kyoto shrine. It leads to the first statement dining space featuring a pristine 11-meter-long sushi counter carved out of solid pine. Here, diners are treated to dramatic views over the cavernous main dining-room where Fu has created what he calls a ‘modernist bamboo theatre’ with a series of intimate booths separated by distinctly modern, tall bamboo screens, softly lit with custom-design silk pendants.
The designer’s inimitable appreciation for subdued colour is also on show here, with sumptuous mud orange and cool mineral greys that beautifully complement the natural materials such as bamboo, sand and volcanic charcoal stone. Meanwhile, Japanese lacquer artist Muramoko Shingo’s ethereal installation of suspended red lacquer maple leaves adds a dreamlike quality as they seemingly ‘float’ through the three distinct spaces.
The food is as good as the setting: in the kitchen, the acclaimed Chef Sawada Kazumi serves up exceptional sushi and contemporary Japanese seasonal fare but we think the Instagram-ready sake bar is worth a visit alone for its excellent selection of rice wines.
ADDRESS
Four Seasons Hotel Seoul
97 Saemunan-ro
Jongno-gu
Seoul
-
Boathouse Zaka is the radical renovation of an ageing structure into a light-filled workspaceOFIS 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 luggerThe 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
-
The city skyline isn’t the limit for the newly opened Capella TaipeiDesigned by André Fu, Capella Taipei is a long-overdue and much-needed addition to the Taiwanese capital’s limited luxury hotel scene
-
Tune into the rhythm of Tokyo’s most ambitious record shopVinyl Delivery Service in east Tokyo’s Skwat Kameari Art Centre is spinning a new narrative for the traditional record store model
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Waldorf Astoria Osaka‘It’s rare to work on a brand new hotel of this scale in Japan in today’s landscape,’ says designer Andre Fu about Osaka’s newest luxury hotel. Wallpaper* paid it an early visit
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Rosewood Miyakojima: ‘Japan, but not as most people know it’Rosewood Miyakojima offers a smooth balance of intuitive Japanese ‘omotenashi’ fused with Rosewood’s luxury edge
-
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
-
A new book captures the kitschy allure of Japanese ‘love hotels’For his latest project, French photographer François Prost documents the whimsical façades that characterise these erotic roadside venues.
-
Korean Air reveals sleek rebrand in first overhaul since 1984Korean Air’s new identity sheds excess detail to create a bold, minimalist identity fit for its global ambition
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’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
