Asian Flavours

ASIAN FLAVOURS

Editor: Christian Schittich Authors: Naomichi Ishige, Osaka; Thomas Linkel, Stefan Stiller, Shanghai; Gin-Young Song, Zurich; Beate Tröger, Frankfurt on the Main (Projects) Editorial team: Cornelia Hellstern (Project Manager), Samay Claro, Anna Gonchar, Kai Meyer, Eva Schönbrunner Copy-editing (German edition): Cosima Frohnmaier, Munich (Projects); Katinka Johanning, Markt-Schwaben (Essay) Translation into English: Kate Cahoon, Berlin and Christina McKenna, Berlin for keiki communication, Berlin Copy-editing (English edition): Kate Cahoon, Berlin and Matthew Griffon, St. Louis, Missouri, USA for keiki communication, Berlin; Stefan Widdess, Berlin Illustrations: Ralph Donhauser Art direction and design: Christoph Kienzle, ROSE PISTOLA, Munich Production /DTP: Roswitha Siegler Reproduction: ludwig:media, Zell am See Printing and binding: Kessler Druck + Medien, Bobingen © 2015, first edition DETAIL – Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation GmbH & Co. KG, Munich www.detail.de ISBN 978-3-95553-267-3 (Print) ISBN 978-3-95553-268-0 (E-Book) ISBN 978-3-95553-269-7 (Bundle) The contribution „The History of Dining in East Asian Families“ by Naomichi Ishige is taken from the Journal of Chinese Dietary Culture (2.2, 2006, pp. 1–26; original title: „East Asian Families and the Dining Table“). With kind permission by the publisher, the Foundation of Chinese Dietary Culture.

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CONTENT ASIAN CULINARY CULTURE: DIVERSE DISHES, IMPRESSIVE SPACES

PROJECTS IN EUROPE 6

ESSAYS THE DIVERSITY OF ASIAN CUISINE OF TENTS, FOOD STALLS AND RESTAURANTS – AN OVERVIEW OF FOOD CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE ACROSS ASIA THE HISTORY OF DINING IN EAST ASIAN FAMILIES FROM TEA ROOMS TO CAFE STREETS, OR: HOW DID COFFEE END UP IN CHURCH?

12

16 24 32

PROJECTS IN ASIA

NOZOMI, VALENCIA (E)

68

TUK TUK RESTAURANT, EDINBURGH (GB)

72

PAPER & TEA SHOPS, BERLIN (D)

74

DISHOOM KING’S CROSS, LONDON (GB)

80

NAMNAM, COPENHAGEN (DK)

84

JUGETSUDO, PARIS (F)

86

MADE IN CHINA, GOTHENBURG (S)

88

PAKTA, BARCELONA (E)

92

MATSURI BOETIE, PARIS (F)

96

VIET HOA, LONDON (GB)

100

SAKE NO HANA, LONDON (GB)

104

YOJISU, AIX-EN-PROVENCE (F)

110

GRAB EVERYDAY THAI FOOD, LONDON (GB)

114

HASHI IZAKAYA & JAPANESE KITCHEN, BERLIN (D) 116

OLD STREET KOBITEH, HONGKONG (HK)

38

MURAKAMI, LONDON (GB)

120

SUZUKAKE HONTEN, FUKUOKA (J)

42

PICNIC, MUNICH (D)

124

CAFÉ KI, TOKIO (J)

44

TEA MOUNTAIN, PRAGUE (CZ)

126

SUSHI AZUMA, OSAKA (J)

48

SMITH&HSU TEEHAUS, TAIPEH (RC)

50

LONG MARCH CANTEEN I YUMCHA HEROES I GOODTIME GRILL I GLORY DUCK, BERLIN (D)

130

PLAY POT, SEOUL (ROK)

52

KAYANOYA, TOKIO (J)

56

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS

140

COFFEESMITH, SEOUL (ROK)

60

AUTHORS

142

SHYO RYU KEN, OSAKA (J)

62

PHOTO CREDITS

143

ASIAN CULINARY CULTURE: DIVERSE DISHES, IMPRESSIVE SPACES CHRISTIAN SCHITTICH

Architects often say “Let’s take a look at the Italian place” when they want to eat well in pleasant surroundings. But an Afghan, Indian or Chinese restaurant? Too exotic, too stereotyped, their spatial atmosphere too banal! Yet following a general trend, Asian eateries are becoming increasingly popular, even in our profession.

Their diversity, a positive side effect of ongoing globalisation, is increasing steadily across the cities of Central Europe. There is now a growing number of authentic restaurants whose culinary quality is as impressive as the special design of their interiors. For a long time Chinese and Indian restaurants in particular were characterised by clichéd, overly ornamental, standardised decorations but there are now many more individually designed restaurants serving these types of food. Their designers often succeed in using very simple means to create unusual atmospheres, connecting them with a 6

specific culture without being merely quaint or exotic.

This is true not only of high-end restaurants but also of many low-cost takeaways and these kinds of restaurants are now justifiably enjoying increased attention.

Asian food deserves this growing recognition. Asia is extremely diverse and heterogeneous and its regional cuisines are just as varied. What they all have in common however, is high quality and the freshness of their food.

Japanese cuisine has played a leading role among Asian cuisines in this context. Proof of this, if any is needed, is provided by its recent Michelin Guide ratings. Years ago when the country was first included in the renowned gourmet guide it promptly and enduringly ousted the former front runner France from its traditional spot at the top of the list of countries with

the most stars. Since then Tokyo has regularly clearly trumped Paris on the list of countries with the highest number of three-star restaurants. The guide’s publishers, convinced of France’s culinary dominance, were not expecting that. Although this result came as no surprise to anyone who had experienced the sophistication of Japanese cuisine, it should in all fairness be mentioned that the sheer number of eateries must partly account for the country’s excellent rating. In this ranking too, the Japanese capital with its 160,000 establishments is at the top of the list worldwide.

Eating out is an essential part of life in Japan and all over Asia, where homes are sometimes too small to contain a separate kitchen.

In Japan and its neighbouring countries there are restaurants on almost every corner, ranging from simple

The diversity of Asian cuisine in miniature: a traditional Korean dish

7

noodle kitchens to elegant restaurants. Anyone who has travelled in Asia will have noticed how ubiquitous food is in public life and how essential it is in private gatherings. The traveller will have many unforgettable experiences with food in Asian countries, like the delicious sushi on the Japanese island of Kyushu, which, as it turned out after the meal, was made not of fish, but of horse, in accordance with local custom. Or the informal picnic of worshippers on the carpet in the middle of the mosque after prayers in Lahore in Pakistan and the invitation to a Pashtun house in Peshawar. A hearty meal was spread out over the floor for everyone to enjoy, from the smallest child to the oldest man, or rather, only for the men. The women, who strangers are not allowed to see, had to be satisfied with leftovers later.

The hospitality of nomads on the endless expanse of the Tibetan Plateau is a special memory. All day long tea made with rancid yak butter and salt simmers over the fires in the middle of their black tents. This tea is immediately offered to any unexpected and weary wanderer who turns up in their camp after several days of solitude. In drastic contrast to that was an elegant business dinner in a sea food restaurant in the northern Chinese coastal city of Dalian. Next to the more or less familiar looking fish in the many tanks all kinds of snake-like worms also swam in coloured plastic bowls, which the guest was obliged to taste, whether he wanted to or not. Unforgettable too the lively, colourful markets everywhere, all the fresh fruit and vegetables in Jaipur and Mumbai, exotic fish in Tokyo, filled dumplings in Shanghai and Seoul. Wherever you travel in Asia, you find steaming food stalls surrounded by people eating busily and often surprisingly delicious food served in nondescript eateries in seething metropolises and in sleepy country hamlets. So it is no surprise that the various regional forms of Asian cuisines have spread so quickly all over the world.

8

Top and bottom left: In Japan you often find outstanding quality food in unspectacular establishments.

Bottom right: At Indian markets they’re steaming and cooking wherever you look: puris in Jaipur.

Lunch break in Korea

This book is about the right architectural settings for Asian cuisines.

“Asian Flavours – Creating Architecture for Culinary Culture” presents strikingly designed restaurants in Asia and Europe that create the right setting for good food. They often develop an authentic atmosphere without overpowering it with folkloristic decorations, creating associations with their particular culture by means of sophisticated allusions. The elegant space of Kengo Kuma’s Sake no Hana in London is framed by an abstract form resembling a Japanese temple entablature and the light filtering through the thin bamboo blinds evokes traditional “sudare”. In contrast, Tuk Tuk in Edinburgh succeeds in creating links with South Asian cookshops and street culture; with its brilliant colours it is reminiscent of the motorised rickshaws in the lively cities. These examples highlight the broad scope of the projects shown in the book, which ranges from exclusive restaurants to cheerful takeaways. The book also depicts various tea shops, because elaborately prepared tea plays a special role in the culinary cultures of many Asian countries.

In introductory essays various experts on Asia describe the special culinary atmosphere and explain traditions and backgrounds from a range of very different perspectives. Stefan Stiller, who has many years of experience working as a chef in Shanghai, briefly outlines the most important cuisines in Asia, ranging from Japan and China through Korea up to Southeast Asia and India, while travel journalist Thomas Linkel describes the relationships between Asia’s culinary cultures and its architecture. The ethnologist Naomichi Ishige explains traditional table manners and eating habits in Eastern Asian families and cultural scholar Gin-Young Song, who now lives in Zurich, focuses on a phenomenon in her home town: coffee culture in Seoul.

9

10

ESSAYS THE DIVERSITY OF ASIAN CUISINE

12

OF TENTS, FOOD STALLS AND RESTAURANTS - AN OVERVIEW OF FOOD CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE ACROSS ASIA

16

THE HISTORY OF DINING IN EAST ASIAN FAMILIES

24

FROM TEA ROOMS TO CAFE STREETS, OR: HOW DID COFFEE END UP IN CHURCH?

32

11

THE DIVERSITY OF ASIAN CUISINE STEFAN STILLER

When trying to gain an overview of the various forms and styles of Asian cuisine, you soon come to one conclusion: the variety, wealth of cultures and striking differences between Asia’s diverse cuisines could not be greater. Asian cuisine even includes the Middle Eastern and South Asian countries, where Arab culinary traditions prevail. Yet when we think about what we regard as typically Asian cooking, we think mainly of South Asian and East Asian cuisines, which will be described below.

Like European cuisine, Asian cuisine spans a geographic range from north to south, with the culinary traditions of China, Japan and Korea in the north and the cuisines and cultures of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and a few other countries in the south.

Japan, famed and celebrated in the western world for using all kinds of raw fish, has one of the world’s most precise cuisines, one with far more to offer than sushi and sashimi. Highly detailed recipes and preparations are handed down through the generations, although Japanese chefs keep many of their recipes secret.

Their choice of ingredients is legendary. The freshness and variety of their fish and seafood sets international standards, and a veritable cult has developed around the use of the best cookware and sharpest knives. Kobe beef, the superb meat of Wagyu cattle, is now served in 12

Left: Sashimi in restaurant Kandakko in Tokyo Right: Fresh fish at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo

many restaurants. It is imported all over the world from Australia, home to the largest herds of these cattle. Kaiseki, Japanese haute cuisine, is still not very well known in the West. It is the “mother” of today’s tasting menus, involving small portions served in a certain order with tea and sake in a long-established ceremony.

Open kitchens with a counter at which cooks wearing grave expressions cut up the world’s freshest fish to make fine sashimi, hot teppanyaki griddles on which meat, fish, seafood and vegetables are cooked in front of enthusiastic guests, robatayaki, the art of grilling fine ingredients on skewers over the best charcoal, and

tempura, a method of frying a wide range of ingredients in extremely thin batter in the best oil: these traditional cooking styles are fundamental to many Japanese restaurants, some of which have three Michelin stars.

Chilli and garlic and preparation methods utterly unlike those used in the rest of Asia predominate in Korean cuisine. The metal chopsticks Koreans use, much thinner than the Asian chopsticks common elsewhere, also strike Europeans as unusual.

A table-top grill, on which guests barbecue marinated meat over glowing coals until it is crispy, is almost

Kimchi vegetables on offer at the Namdaemun Market in Seoul

mandatory in Korean cuisine. A wide range of small entrées and side dishes, served without being ordered, accompanies every meal. Koreans cook with roots and mushrooms that Europeans have never seen. Another element essential to Korean food is its cult of kimchi, a mixture of fermented cabbage and other kinds of vegetables, to name just a few of the important characteristics of the Korean palate.

Kimchi is a ubiquitous element of almost every Korean meal. Most households even have a separate fridge to keep it in because other foods quickly absorb its intensive smell. It is not unlike German sauerkraut, which is also made of pickled cabbage preserved with the help of lactic acid fermentation, which is what gives it its unique flavour. Korean kimchi is traditionally made of Chinese cabbage pickled with plenty of chilli, garlic, ginger, horseradish and other kinds of vegetables. In some regions, sea food in the form of oysters, dried shrimps or fish sauce is added to it. Cabbage leaves are formed into rolls or packages and sealed in large terracotta pots for fermentation. In rural regions, the terracotta pots may be buried in the ground in winter.

It is not only cabbage that is prepared in this or similar ways, but also other vegetables, including cucumbers, radishes and small white beets. In 2013, UNESCO added kimchi to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and there is even a kimchi museum in Seoul.

The Korean culinary tradition is currently still one of the world’s underrated cuisines, although this Asian cuisine will doubtless become popular with a wider public in future.

To speak of “a” Chinese cuisine is like lumping all European cookery together into “a” European cuisine. Traditional local and regional cookery varies greatly across the vast “Middle Kingdom”. Uyghur cuisine from Xinjiang in the country’s northwest has more in common with oriental and Turkish cuisine than with Chinese. Travelling from Beijing to Shanghai and Chengdu and down

to Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the south, you discover very different foods. The different flavours and preparation methods range from rich and somewhat oily in the north through hot and very spicy in the west and down to sophisticated and delicate in the south. China is a self-contained culinary world all its own.

Among the stereotypes of Chinese cuisine familiar in Germany and the western world are crispy roast duck, sweet and sour pork, and spring rolls, although these dishes are rarely served in authentic Chinese cuisine. A Chinese meal consists of many different dishes in the 13

saw their particular choice of meals and drinks as an effective way of documenting their status and group identity.

Despite being initially oriented towards courtly and middle-class norms, this was followed by certain developments in the culinary culture in Asian cities; in urban agglomerations, this was a result of the increasing separation of working life and living areas during industrialisation and by changes in how meals were consumed, which was dictated by working hours and breaks, as well as the lack of space in many dwellings and subsequent lack of cooking areas. Thus, for the working population, a culinary culture of fast food stands emerged and spread throughout all parts of Asia. It takes place on the street, in traffic junctions, close to offices and factories, and without architecture in the traditional sense.

18

Top left: The speciality of the Sun Kau Kee Noodle Shop in Hong Kong is traditional Congee soup served very hot. Top centre: Tibet Steak House in Tibet’s capital city of Lhasa Top right: Row after row of food stalls along Ameyoko street in Tokyo. Bottom: Market women converse at the night market in Krabi, Thailand.

People are born into a certain culture. This culture becomes part of their identity and reflects where they come from, their job, their class and their food culture.

One of the most important places where socialisation occurs is where we eat our meals – here, it isn’t just table manners that are taught and learned, values are also passed on, conversations are had, and aesthetic and culinary tastes are formed. Just like architecture and language (and at the micro level, dialect) culinary traditions play a major role in a larger, more complex and dynamic structure. In combination with geography, they can create a regional character within a certain culture.

Regional characteristics have developed in parallel to the design of rooms and food culture. The emergence of kinds of cuisine typical for certain regions, as well as the way we eat and where we eat, also gives rise to regional architecture, which is in turn shaped not only by our inevitable need for a place to be, but also by our religion and values, by tradition, hierarchies and class, as well as climatic and local conditions. Both aspects – the culinary tradition and the rooms in which food is consumed – give rise to and are part of human culture.

In the next step, the transformation of local cuisine and architecture was complete, in the sense that it was no longer primarily focused on individual homes and regions, but extended into public places, where people came together in the cities along major trade routes, as travellers or to be in the company of others. The culture of each region was reflected in the caravanserais, kitchens, food courts and the classic eateries.

Of course, the early “restaurants” were shaped by local traditions, both in terms of the dishes they served and their architecture. It wasn’t until later that people began to cook and eat foods from far-away countries in the appropriate ambiance. Presumably, this came about so that locals could be presented with strange cultures and foods, but also as venues were established along the long trading routes featuring foreign dishes and architecture, to give the passing merchants and travellers a taste and a sense of home.

Today, as a result of globalisation, almost every kind of cuisine can be found everywhere, at least in larger cities and urban centres. Getting pad thai from the place around the corner is just as much a part of our lives as sauerbraten, sashimi and pizza.

Dumplings being prepared at the market in Kashgar, Xinjiang

The interior design of restaurants often picks up on these cultural influences and tries to implement them with varying degrees of success. Many outstanding examples can be found in this book. It features spatial concepts that reflect more than just the culture behind the foods presented, they draw on a refined form language integrated into the overall cultural context.

But where to start, and where to end? Asian food cultures are so diverse that whole books have been written about each different kind. The differences between Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian culinary styles are considerable. Of particular note is the Chinese culinary tradition, which has been propagated in Southeast Asia for over 250 years by Chinese living overseas and continues to develop in conjunction with regional cooking traditions. This is particularly apparent in the citystate of Singapore, where the Peranakan

culture has emerged from the combination of Malay and Chinese ways of living. The intercultural connection between the Malay women and Chinese men, who were usually merchants or sailors, gave rise to a distinct culture with a particular style of architecture, living and cooking, which even today remains most pronounced in the Katong district. It’s enjoyable to roam though the district and see the colourful, two-storey houses with small front gardens and window shutters that line the streets. On the corner, women with shopping baskets are chatting, and next door at Nancy’s Kitchen, run by the “Classic Mrs Singapore 2006”, one of the finest laksa soups to be found in the city is cooking in large pots. A cook is using a wooden hammer on a black nut, called “buah keluak”, which is frequently utilised in Peranakan cuisine. Next to him is a large pot filled with “rempah”, a homemade spice paste that will serve as the basis for most of his dishes.

19

TABLE 1 Sit-down

seated

A C E

B D F

Individual

Communal

1 3

2 4

Hands Chopsticks (spoons) Knives, forks and spoons

TABLE 2

Spatial development Sequential

TABLE 3

1 2 3 4

A

B

C

D

E

F

A1 A2 A3 A4

B1 B2 B3 B4

C1 C2 C3 C4

D1 D2 D3 D4

E1 E2 E3 E4

F1 F2 F3 F4

Table 1: Dining etiquette and utensils Table 2: Serving methods Table 3: Dining formats

THE MATRIX OF DINING FORMATS Table 1 is a matrix that indicates postures such as “sit-down” and “seated” while dining, and the separate postures and utensils in dining, such as “hands”, “chopsticks” (including spoons), and “knives, forks and spoons”. Table 2 is a matrix created to classify the serving methods, such as “spatial development” and “sequential order”, and the methods of food distribution, such as “individual” and “communal”.

Combining Table 1 and Table 2 results in the matrix shown in Table 3. In other words, Table 3 describes a total of 24 types of dining formats by distributing the types described in Table 1 using the alphabet along the X-axis, and the types described in Table 2 using numbers along the Y-axis.

26

As a broad outline for comparing the world’s dining formats, this matrix, which ranks and classifies them, is effective as an approach for considering historical changes. For example, daily eating in Medieval Europe is thought to have been type B (seated dining using the hands) in Table 1, and type 2 (communal dining, spatial development) in Table 2. This type is cell B2 in Table 3. As things have grown more modern, this has changed to type F (seated dining using a knife, fork, and spoon) in Table 1, and type 3 (individual dining, spatial development) in Table 2. This is described in cell F3 in Table 3. In other words, the European dining format upgraded from B2 to F3.

To tell the truth, it would have been sufficient for this thesis to describe the dining formats of China, Japan

and the Korean Peninsula individually, even without preparing the matrix. By ordering them using this framework however, I wanted to investigate the possibility of comparing regional differences in dining formats, their changes through the ages, and comparing daily meals at home with meals held at official events and when dining out, so I created these rather rough tables.

THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY AND DINING IN EAST ASIA Family structure and Confucianism In China and the Korean Peninsula, where the most common model is the patrilineal clan, the ideology pervading traditional society is Confucianism or “ru 儒”, within which emphasis is placed on “filial piety”, the “distinction between genders”, and the “distinction between generations”. As described below, family ethics as explained according to Confucianism were also reflected historically in the family dining tables of China and the Korean Peninsula. In contrast, in traditional Japanese society, the state was not administered according to Confucian ideology and ideas associated with Confucianism did not form the basis of action in family life; Confucianism instead was significant only as intellectual food for thought.3 China Generally, surviving records of eating and drinking in ancient times are limited to those concerning the upper classes, ceremonies and public events, and China is no exception to this. According to the “Sijiyan 司几 筵” chapter in the “Rites of Zhou”, a coarse matting called

“yan 筵” was spread out on the floor in homes, and a high-quality, small and thin mat called a “xi” was placed on top, and people then sat on the “xi 席” to eat. In a thesis by Tan Tanaka, “Images of Eating and Drinking in Ancient China”, he has included pictures of Chinese dining before the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 CE), includ-

Traditional dining room with tatami mats at the Yarimikan hotel in Takayama, Japan

ing images of banquets from the Later Han (25-220 CE) and Wei-Jin dynasties (Wei, ca. 220-280 CE and Jin, ca. 265-420 CE), and people sitting on the “yan-xi 筵席” mats appeared to be common.

Dining tables depicted in ancient paintings are the “an 案” and “pan 盤”. Footnotes added by Yan Shigu to the “Jijiupian 急就編” describe them as: “those without legs are ‘pan’, those with legs are ‘an’, on which food is placed”, thereby calling a square or circular table without legs a “pan”, and with legs an “an.” In an image of a kitchen on the murals in the No. 1 Liaoyang Bangtaizi grave in the Liaoning Province, from the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 CE), there are four square and five round “an” stacked up in the kitchen. “An” and “pan” were placed in the kitchen, and for meals, a serving for a single person was placed on one, and the table was then carried out to be placed in front of the diner seated on the mat. In other words, this serves as proof of the existence in ancient China of the C1 dining format in Table 3, sit-down dining, use of chopsticks and spoons, individual serving and spatial development model.4 This type influenced the traditional dining formats of the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Images of banquets unearthed near Chengdu in the Sichuan Province however, depict scenes in which four people surrounded a single dining table with two people seated at opposite ends along a square “xi”, with a low-backed square dining table placed between them.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to consider that there are numerous images of banquets from the Eastern Han and Wei-Jin dynasties in which people are sitting not on matting, but on low stools or a divan, with a large dining table piled with food placed before them.

The use of chairs was common among the nobility during the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), and during the

Middle Tang dynasty (ca. 713-765 CE), in the homes of upper and middles classes and of bureaucrats, all of whom changed to a chair-using lifestyle.5 According to archaeological evidence from the banquet images used by Tan Tanaka, from the Tang and Five Dynasties periods, we have scenes that depict meals being eaten at a table. From this period on, Han people sat on chairs and stools just like today, and had their meals at a dining table.

With regards to dining formats in which people sat around a table that had a limited surface area on which to place food there was probably a shift from serving people individually using separate “an” or “pan”, to communal serving methods in which food was distributed from communal dishes. Furthermore, for dining in restaurants, at banquets and for upper-class dining in which servants carried out dish after dish, the format was probably refined into the sequential system (C3 in Table 3). However, daily meals were characterised overwhelmingly by the spatial development model and this continues to the present day.

Until now, under a family system that values distinction between genders, dining in Chinese families has been characterised by the custom of men and women in large families dining separately. According to a report

by Motonosuke Amano, in the case of large families in Quyang, Hebei Province before World War II, the wives and children never participated in the family meals with their husbands, even after being married for 15 years.

In addition, in large Han families in Taiwan as well, in ancient times homemakers (usually the women) dined at the same table as the men of their family only once a year, and this meal was limited to New Year’s Eve.6 In a case that I heard of in a farming village outside Jinan, 27

A serving lady in kimono sets a table at the Ryokan Tanabe restaurant in Takayama

Shandong Province, during the Chinese Nationalist era wealthy families never had both men and women dining at the same table, but always ate separately; the women would sit down to eat after the men had finished and would suffice with the men’s leftovers. Among poor farming families however, men and women would eat together, sitting around the same table.

Korean Peninsula Traditional dining on the Korean Peninsula meant that one would eat while seated on the floor of the house.

This is probably related to the spread of the “ondol”, a floor-heating installation. Since ancient times, in Goguryeo in the north, there were hearths similar to those originating in the northeast region of China, but the 28

spread of the “ondol” as far as the south of the Korean Peninsula happened only after the era of the Goryeo dynasty.7 Another factor that deeply influenced the traditional method of organising dining was the Confucian ideal that emphasised the separation of men and women, and adults and children. Due to the influence of elites who emphasised Confucianism during the period of the Korean imperial dynasties, from the start of the 16th century, “Zhuzi Reverence for the Family” also spread to the general populace, thus shaping the daily lifestyles of the Korean people. Dining formats passed down to the present day are thought to have been established around that time.

I will try to outline this by taking the example of large families in the Yangban class, who were the nobility until the first half of the 20th century. Their traditional dining format can be explained with the family hierarchy based on ideas associated with Confucius, according to which they ate seated on the floor around the “ondol” in a space used as a living area.8 The dining table used for eating while seated on the floor was called a “sang” or “ban”. The most formal dining table was a dining table for just one person, called the single-seat “sang” (“dokzhua-sang”), or “dok-sang” for short. The “two-seat sang” (“kyeom-sang”) was an oblong dining table used by two people facing each other, and the circular “ban” was a dining table used by several people seated around it.

In terms of the physical equipment used for these dining formats, traditional meals meant that one sat on the floor, using chopsticks and spoons, and had the meal served based on the spatial development model.

But depending on the category to which the users belonged and the model of dining table, this can be divided into “individual” (C1 in Table 3) and “communal” (C2 in Table 3) types.

The rules governing the order of dining, the site used for eating and the type of dining table used were principally based on sex and age within the family. Here, I would like to use as an example a household comprising three generations of Yangban, which is a comparatively simple family configuration.

The wife lays out the dining tables with food cooked in the kitchen and carries them into each living room. The

order of presentation is fixed. The first table is carried into the room of the head of the household, who is her husband, the second into the room of the grandparents.

The head of the household eats alone at a “dokzhuasang”. The grandparents eat seated at a “kyeom-sang”.

The small grandchildren may be invited to join the grandparents. As the grandchildren and grandparents are two generations apart, dining together is permitted.

However, seating for those who are only one generation apart, such as grandfather and father, or father and son etc., at the same dining table is not allowed. Children who cannot feed themselves eat with their mothers.

When the grandparents and head of the family have finished eating, the meal for the sons is carried into the living room for the male members of the family, which is called the “saranban”. Next, food is taken to the women’s wing, called the “nedang” (translated: inner sanctum), and it is finally the wife’s turn to eat.

When ordinary people are dining on a traditional meal, the generational hierarchy within the family is ignored, but the principle of separation of the sexes is still observed. In other words, the men of the family are separated in the “saranban” and the women in the women’s room, called the “nebang” (translated: inner kitchen).

If both the bride and mother-in-law are seated at the same table, the bride eats by placing her own utensils on the floor underneath the dining table. This act symbolises the generational difference.

Japan During the long period from the Neolithic to the Kofun era (3rd to 6th century CE), the most common Japanese eating format is thought to have been “sit-down dining, eating with hands, with the communal serving practice and spatial development model” (A2 in Table 3). During the 7th and 8th centuries CE, eating with the use of individual dining tables and chopsticks became common due to influence from China and the Korean Peninsula, thus signalling a shift to “sit-down dining, using chopsticks, individual serving and spatial development model” (C1 in Table 3). This became the traditional Japanese format that continued up to the first half of the 20th century.9 The Japanese dining model is characterised by the complete adoption of the individual serving method. A

Guests eating dinner at the Hisamatsu guest house in the village of Ogimachi

into Japan through Nagasaki, the only port where the Dutch and Chinese merchants were permitted to stay.

The “chabudai” from Nagasaki was modified so that it could be used when sitting on “tatami” mats, the Japanese-style flooring. This was done by shortening the legs of the “baxianzhuo 八僊卓”, which was used by the Chinese in Nagasaki. During the Meiji period, the idea of making “chabudai” legs foldable for storage was conceived, and such types of “chabudai” became popular throughout Japan. When not in use, these “chabudai” were kept in a corner of the room, and then were assembled at meal times. Urban families at the start of the 20th century discarded tables for individual use, and it became fashionable to eat with the whole family seated around a large dining table called a “chabudai”.

We found out in our study that in 1925, more families used the “chabudai” than the individual “zen” tables, and during the 1930s and 1940s, nearly every family in the country ate using the “chabudai”. Even though the entire family now eats seated at the same dining table, the communal serving method is not used, and food is divided into individual dishes and served separately on the “chabudai”.

CHANGES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

serving for one person is placed on a oblong, legless small dining table called an “orishiki” or on a low-legged table called a “zen”, which has the same shape as an ancient Chinese-style “an”. If there are many dishes that could not all fit on one “zen” or “orishiki”, such as at banquets or during official meals, multiple dining tables are placed in front of one person.

Furthermore, unlike in China or on the Korean Peninsula, families are not separated into dining groups by sex or generation, but as a rule the whole family eats in the same room at the same time. In families of upperclass warriors and wealthy merchants during the Edo period (1603-1867 CE), the head of the household might customarily be separated from the dining place of the rest of the family to eat alone in a separate room

served by his wife or a servant, but in the lives of ordinary people, it was common for the whole family to eat together.

The separation of the sexes and of adults and children can be seen, however, in the way the dining tables were set, with the tray for the head of the household placed first in the most important seat and the remaining trays arranged in the order of sex and age. Governing order and etiquette at the dining table was the duty of the head of the household, and children were forbidden from laughing or talking while eating, and they were required to eat in relative silence.

During the Edo period, when contact with the outside world was cut off and Japan was a closed country, “chabudai 卓袱台”, the low dining table, came

In Japan, which has seen the modernisation of society modelled on Western civilisation, chairs and tables have been used since the 1870s in social living spaces, such as in schools, in the military and in offices etc., but the spread of tables and chairs in family life occurred only after the end of World War II. According to the results of studies conducted, in 1971, a majority of Japanese families started using dining tables and chairs for eating, and currently more than 80 % of households utilise Western-style seating for meals. In other words, the dining format has changed from C1 to D1 in Table 3.10 In addition, while retaining the principle of the spatial development serving method, the sequential order method of serving hot food immediately when it is ready, and cold food just before it is eaten, is now being utilised. This is because it has become possible to eat while cooking, due to changes in the home, such as 29

FROM TEA ROOMS TO CAFÉ STREETS, OR: HOW DID COFFEE END UP IN CHURCH? GIN-YOUNG SONG

People in Seoul still tell stories about how coffee was a popular choice in the so-called “dabang” (tea room) well into the 1980s, where it was served by the hostess or “madame”, as they were called at the time. A dabang is usually associated with upholstered sitting areas and sofas, and low partitions, warm lighting and classical music. Just like in today’s cafes, you could order tea, snacks and instant coffee, or the “morning coffee”, which was an instant coffee topped with a raw egg yolk.

For those born after 1980, the dabang will remain one of those nostalgic places that will never again be experienced in its original form.

The same is true of the coffee vending machines that belonged to modern daily life in many parts of the city until the 1990s. In his comic strip “How about a coffee?” the South Korean cult author Youngman Heo devoted the episode “Ciao, coffee machines” to the once flourishing coin-operated coffee machines. In the comic, an American stands helplessly in front of one of the machines, which evidently hasn’t been working for some time. “You have to be kidding me! I came all the way here to enjoy the coffee again!”, he yells. After having spent time in the area as an exchange student, he had missed the coffee from the vending machines so much that during a business trip to Seoul he went out of his way to return. One of the protagonists – a cafe owner and “coffee master” – asks him if it has to be exactly “that” specific coffee, his trainee even politely offers him a “better” coffee. “There a plenty of those kinds of cafés in the USA”, the American replies and insists on a vending machine coffee.

The coffee from the machine for 300 won (around 27 cents) is something for fans of simplicity, it’s unhealthy 32

Morning Coffee

and symbolises the aesthetic of cheap taste. In the new millennium it has slowly been replaced by a more sophisticated appreciation of espresso and brewed coffee, and by the compact automatic coffee makers for home and commercial use, as is the case in Europe.

Korean-style coffee?

Aside from the fact that the dabang or vending machine coffee is being increasingly rediscovered as a sort of “soul” of the South Korean coffee culture, a remarkable “new” culture of coffee has developed in South Korea during the past ten years. According to the trade magazine Coffee, the number of cafes operated by multinational and national chains, as well as small independent cafes, quadrupled between 2008 and 2010.

In 2012, there were some 15,000 cafés in South Korea, with around half in and around Seoul. Since then, cafés have continued to establish themselves as places suitable for consumption, enjoyment, work, or just generally passing time during daily life in the city. In addition

to the well-known international chains, there has been an increase in South Korean companies, such as the chain franchise caffé bene, and roasting cafes, cafes which roast their own coffee. The market for private consumption is also growing. Following the first wave in the 1960s when coffee became affordable for everyone, and a second wave characterised by fast indulgences thanks to coffee chains and capsule machines,1 the media has now started to talk about a ‘third wave’ of coffee culture. The German newspaper Die Zeit claims that “foodies” and “purists” are the protagonists of this worldwide trend in the urban coffee scene.2 It can be characterised by the specialised and individualised methods of preparation, as well as by a strong appreciation of the product coffee in general.

In European cities, too, the “new” coffee culture entails something other than grandma’s brewed coffee or Italian espresso. “Don’t be surprised if your coffee doesn’t taste as expected. Allow yourself to discover what it is: a fruit”, explains a third-wave cafe in Zurich on its homepage.3 Today’s urban coffee cultures are unique in the sense that they are emerging at the same time across the globe – a so-called hipster cafe can be found in San Francisco, Barcelona and Sydney, but also in Seoul. The knowledge and information around coffee, the way of going about feeling and tasting it, as well as the vocabulary used to describe the gustatory experiences, are all transmitted, standardised and reproduced via the internet and by different forms of media and institutions, such as the Specialty Coffee Association, and by competitions.

Yet, in light of the interdependence between cities in today’s world, is it even possible to speak of a South Korean coffee culture? Instead of trying to look for

Left: Interior of the Keopi Maeul in Ilsan New Town Top right: Jisu (left) and Songha (right) are regulars from the neighbourhood. Bottom right: Fresh waffles from an ‘original Belgian’ recipe are baked daily.

“the” authentic South Korean coffee culture, the following concrete example serves to highlight the innovative potential of coffee in a South Korean context. Here, the symbolic meaning of coffee plays a central role.

Keopi Maeul The Keopi Maeul /kh phi ma l/ (coffeehouse for village in English) is located on a street corner in Baekseokdong, District 13, in Ilsan New Town. Ilsan New Town was built at the beginning of the 1990s as one of the first planned satellite cities in the Seoul area. In its ground floor, the building houses a café with its own roastery, and the “One Hour School”, a tutoring facility for socially disadvantaged children and young people.

A woodworking shop for adults, children and young

people was also opened in 2015. Next to the cafe is a mobile coffee cart; the “Dallyeora Keopi” (which can be translated as “Run, coffee!”) means that the projects at Keopi Maeul are not limited to one place. Between the cafe and the workshop, a staircase leads down to a renovated kitchen area, previously used by a wine vendor as a cellar. The room is always open and is used for the weekly church service and concerts. Here, a protestant pastor and a renowned barista in the South Korean coffee scene can be found in the very same person.

The concept of Keopi Maeul makes it different to most ordinary community centres. In line with a sociological approach to religion, it can be understood as a “deconstruction of the church” 4 – an active secularisation of the church as an institution, as it becomes a more

socially engaged, ecumenical and business-driven community. The projects are linked to a broader community movement and thus represent a site of experimentation with alternative kinds of economic activity, according to the notion of a “moral economy”.

For Junho Ahn (45), pastor and barista, coffee is not a medium for conveying his religious convictions, but rather a part of his own self-realisation process.

“Ironically, the closer I get to the barista part of me, the more I feel like a ‘real’ pastor. I really want to be a pastor who can make a ‘really good’ coffee, and not necessarily one that can speak well.” 5 In this context, “making coffee” means the whole process from roasting to sorting the coffee beans by hand 33

PROJECTS IN ASIA OLD STREET KOBITEH, HONG KONG (HK)

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SUZUKAKE HONTEN, FUKUOKA (J)

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CAFÉ KI, TOKYO (J)

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SUSHI AZUMA, OSAKA (J)

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SMITH&HSU TEAHOUSE, TAIPEI (RC)

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PLAY POT, SEOUL (ROK)

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KAYANOYA, TOKYO (J)

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COFFEESMITH, SEOUL (ROK)

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SHYO RYU KEN, OSAKA (J)

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OLD STREET KOBITEH RESTAURANT | HONG KONG (HK) Design: NC Design & Architecture (NCDA), www.ncda.biz Team: Whatever Workshop (Graphic Design) Completion: 2013 Contact: Shop G09, Popcorn Mall, Tsueng Kwan O, Hong Kong (HK) Owner: Buick Management Limited

A colourful, inviting, clearly organised minimalist space greets guests in the Old Street Kobiteh restaurant in a shopping mall in the Hong Kong suburb of Tseung Kwan O. With its architectural concept for the restaurant, the firm of NC Design & Architecture, also based in Hong Kong and headed by Nelson Chow, sought to revive memories of Malaysian street scenes of the 1920s. Chow had in mind the kopitiams that were just becoming popular at that time. The name “kopitiam” comes from the Malay word for coffee, “kopi”, and a word from the southern Chinese Hokkien dialect for shop, “tiam”. Kopitiams are found in residential neighbourhoods and business districts all over South East Asia. Most kopitiams consist of a collection of small stands or shops. They are places for sociable gatherings, offering coffee and other drinks as well as simple dishes from various regions and different cultures and traditions. Despite their simplicity, most kopitiams offer a very diverse range of food and drink.

During the design process, Nelson Chow found some historic photos of street traders preparing various dishes for sale to passers-by. He wanted to express the diverse range of sounds, smells and aromas that the photos of the lively urban street scenes evoked in his imagination in the restaurant’s visual concept.

Planning for the restaurant began in 2012, and it is based on a typical kopitiam, a South East Asian version of a café.

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Entering the Old Street Kobiteh, guests are surprised by the diversity created by the materials used. In its oblong main room is an eleven-metre-long row of 19 tables for two. Each tabletop is covered with a different traditional Malay pattern of tiny mosaic tiles. The sequence of differently decorated tabletops creates a colourful yet harmonious overall appearance, as colourful as the many different people who meet here. In effect, everyone sits together at one table, as the architect intended.

Parallel to the long, colourfully decorated row of tables is the restaurant counter, where guests can sit on bar stools and watch the food being prepared. Above the counter, the menu hangs on a series of backlit panels, clearly legible for everyone.

At the back of the Old Street Kobiteh, slightly concealed in niches, are two more seating areas. One directly adjoins the bar and can seat ten people. One 39

SMITH&HSU TEAHOUSE TEAHOUSE, TEASHOP | TAIPEI (RC) Design: Carsten Jørgensen Materials: concrete (walls and floors), wood (furniture) | Completion: 2011 Contact: Nanjing Store, No. 21, Section 1, Nan Jing East Road, Taipei (RC), www.smithandhsu.com Owner: smith&hsu teahouse

The pleasures of ritual tea drinking have a long tradition, and not just in Asia. When tea began to be imported to Britain from China in the 17th century, a British culture of tea also developed. At that time tea was very expensive and seen as a status symbol. With the smith&hsu teahouse serving English cream tea and afternoon tea in Taipei today, that tradition has come full circle: a cultural tradition that, over time, has encircled the globe.

The smith&hsu brand, which has its origins in Taiwan, is a tea business specialist, selling loose teas from plantations all over the world as well as all kinds of tea utensils. A particular focus is on everything essential to both Chinese and British tea culture.

The company runs several tea shops and cafés, including a teahouse in the Nanjing East Road in Taipei. Here you can buy tea as well as drink it in the adjoining café.

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Danish-Swiss product designer Carsten Jörgensen designed the teahouse. The shop, with a guest area extending over two storeys, can accommodate around 10 people on the ground floor and 48 upstairs. Entering the teahouse, customers arrive first in the shop area, where different types of tea and other smith&hsu products are displayed for sale on quadratic wooden shelves and in display cases. On the upper floor, tea lovers can taste different types of tea while browsing through one of the books or magazines freely available from shelves along the walls.

Carsten Jörgensen made use of restrained colours and wood and exposed concrete to fittingly showcase tea as a natural product. The exposed concrete walls and floors have a cool look, while the wood of the shelves and other furniture lends the space a lively warmth. Its

ceiling is painted in a restrained black, and all the materials subtly reveal their characters, as the tea does to the tea drinkers. To vary the contrast between organic and inorganic materials, Hans J. Wegner’s wooden Ychairs were chosen to contrast with Eames Plastic Side Chairs by Charles & Ray Eames in the restaurant area.

The result is a clearly structured, spacious 172 squaremetre dining area where the spirit of tea culture merges with the spirit of language.

Yet there is also space here for pleasure. smith&hsu offer a surprising range of culinary delights based around tea, ranging from cream tea – a version of afternoon tea with scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, originally from southern England – to afternoon tea, which also includes savouries, dainty sandwiches and other delicacies.

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SHYO RYU KEN RESTAURANT | OSAKA (J) Design: STILE, www.go-go-stile.com | Team: Ietsugu Ohara; Kenji Kogaito, Yaohousing (construction); Shinji Higashi, Tanikoco (kitchen); Hiroyuki Nagatomi, Maxray (lighting); Kenichi Kandatsu, flame. (decorative lighting) Materials: toughened safety glass and steel (facade); wood, plywood and plastering materials (interior) | Completion: 2012 Contact: 1-1-1/Area No 49 Higashinoda-cho, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka, (J) | Owner: KIHARA

Notions of noodles in Asian and Japanese cuisine differ greatly from Central European ideas of noodles, as Florian Coulmas, Japanologist and until the autumn of 2014 director of the Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien (German Institute for Japanese Studies) in Tokyo, explains in his book “Die Kultur Japans. Tradition und Moderne”. According to Coulmas, this can be observed by the fact that Japanese supermarkets display different noodles in different sections.1 While Italian noodles 62

are made almost exclusively of wheat flour or semolina, Asian noodles are often made of types of flour that are rarely or never found in western noodles, such as rice or buckwheat flour. The white glass noodles made of mung bean starch that become transparent during soaking and cooking, for example, are only found in Asia.2 These differ from ramen, which are wheat flour noodles served with various sauces and soups. Every Japanese city has its own type of ramen and every ramen cook develops

his or her own ramen speciality. Originally from China, ramen are now an important element in Japanese cuisine and ramen restaurants are widespread and very popular in Japan. In Yokohama there is even a ramen museum. The savoury noodle dishes served in ramen restaurants, which are often eaten cold in summer, have long since become successful in Europe.

Shyo Ryu Ken is a “ramen-ya”, a ramen soup restaurant, which traditionally serve ramen dishes, mainly soups.

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Planned and completed in 2012 by Ietsugu Ohara from the firm STILE, it is in the business district of Kyobashi, a suburb of Osaka. Seen from outside, the restaurant looks striking yet natural. Its planners wanted to create a place that people in this bustling business district would enjoy meeting in. To underscore its inviting aspect, they deliberately avoided the closed structure typical of “ramen-ya”, opening up the restaurant’s entrance with floor-to-ceiling glass elements. Its

Floor plan Scale 1:100 1 Entrance 2 Waiting area 3 Reception 4 Booth 5 Storage 6 Lavatory 7 Open-plan kitchen 8 Bar

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spacious entry area is marked by a slightly projecting porch, so it is almost like a huge picture, which guests enter through large, sliding elements bearing the restaurant’s name.

Entering the square space, guests find two clearly divided areas. To the right of the entrance is a counter at which diners can sit on square wooden stools to eat.

The gaze falls on the thirty square-metre open kitchen behind the counter. A bigger table for a larger group of guests stands in an area at the front. Behind it a singleflight staircase leads up to the first floor.

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To the left of the entrance are six small “cabins”, closed on three sides with roofs pitched at various angles, which house the reception counter and cash desk and five more intimate seating areas. Each of the seating areas, whose furniture is made entirely of wood, is illuminated by three black pendant lights. The floor above, which takes up about a third of the Shyo Ryu Ken’s 120 square-metre space, can accommodate more diners at another four tables.

Its architect, Ietsugu Ohara, drew on traditional pointedgabled projecting dormers, such as those of the

Annaka Nagaya samurai house, as his inspiration for the Shyo Ryu Ken’s interior design. This long house, built in the late Edo period (1603–1868), was home to a number of samurai families, who had their own kitchens and living areas, but shared toilet and bathing facilities. The Shyo Ryu Ken cabins, with their pointed roofs and separate eating areas, make use of this principle of accommodating separate zones under a single roof. Shyo Ryu Ken’s wooden counter is also screened by a sloping roof extending into the space and the space beneath it is effectively illuminated.

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Ohara describes his design as using traditional and sustainable Japanese materials, including hardened glass and steel for the doors, and timber and plaster inside. He also sought to re-examine old traditions and bring a breath of fresh air into the surroundings. With clever contrivances such as the varying roof angles he has succeeded in doing just that.

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see: Coulmas, Florian: Die Kultur Japans. Tradition und Moderne. Munich 2003, p. 22

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see: Gödert, Dorothee; Bruckmann, Claudia: Das Teubner Handbuch Asiatisch. Zutaten – Küchenpraxis – Rezepte.

Munich 2014, p. 58 65

PROJECTS IN EUROPE NOZOMI, VALENCIA (E)

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TUK TUK RESTAURANT, EDINBURGH (GB)

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PAPER & TEA SHOPS, BERLIN (D)

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DISHOOM KING’S CROSS, LONDON (GB)

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NAMNAM, COPENHAGEN (DK)

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JUGETSUDO, PARIS (F)

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MADE IN CHINA, GOTHENBURG (S)

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PAKTA, BARCELONA (E)

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MATSURI BOETIE, PARIS (F)

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VIET HOA, LONDON (GB)

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SAKE NO HANA, LONDON (GB)

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YOJISU, AIX-EN-PROVENCE (F)

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GRAB EVERYDAY THAI FOOD, LONDON (GB)

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HASHI IZAKAYA & JAPANESE KITCHEN, BERLIN (D)

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MURAKAMI, LONDON (GB)

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PICNIC, MUNICH (D)

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TEA MOUNTAIN, PRAGUE (CZ)

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LONG MARCH CANTEEN I YUMCHA HEROES I GOODTIME GRILL I GLORY DUCK, BERLIN (D)

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PAPER & TEA SHOPS CONCEPT STORES FOR A SPECIALTY TEA BRAND | BERLIN (D) Design: Fabian von Ferrari, www.fabianvonferrari.com | Team: Anna Leipolz Materials Berlin-Charlottenburg: painted maritime pine, painted MDF (furniture); painted wire, Chinese lanterns (wire cages); painted parquetry | Materials Berlin-Mitte: steel painted black, oiled ash wood (shelves, counter); aluminium (sliding doors); paint plaster, green fine clay plaster (walls); painted parquetry | Completion: 2012 (Berlin-Charlottenburg) | 2014 (Berlin-Mitte) Contact: Bleibtreustrasse 4, 10623 Berlin (D), www.paperandtea.com | Owner: Jens de Gruyter, Sven Kröncke (P & T – Paper & Tea)

“The woman had the serenity, unrestricted by caution, of the experienced. Water bubbled in an iron kettle standing on a Kiri wood brazier and with this hot water she prepared the tea. The fact that the sencha was so surprisingly good in quality and flavour for such a place, for such an occasion, put old Eguchi in an even more relaxed mood.”1 In “The house of the sleeping beauties”, a novel written in 1960/61 by the Japanese author and winner of the Nobel prize for literature Yasunari Kawabata, about an ageing man who again feels the fascination of physical love, the almost magical effect of tea in Japanese culture is explained in just a few words. Being served a beautifully-prepared, high-quality tea lifts the spirits and is a sensual experience of a very special kind.

This is also the view of Jens de Gruyter. In his Paper & Tea shop in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district he aims to give lovers of finest-quality teas an opportunity to taste and buy the best teas from all over the world. His sales concept is clear: in the shop customers can smell and scrutinise tea in its loose form before it undergoes the brewing process.

In his original shop in Charlottenburg, which was designed by young designer Fabian von Ferrari and 74

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opened in 2012, white, yellow, green, oolong, black and pu-erh teas as well as flavoured and herb teas are displayed to be sampled using the senses of smell and taste. The teas are presented on a large sales counter with drawers. Countless simple bowls containing tea leaves and panels with information on individual varieties are organised according to the degree of their oxidation. Customers can smell the samples, find out about their origins and production processes and go to one of the “tea stations” to have a particular tea freshly brewed by the shop staff for tasting.

The presentation of the teas is central – both to the senses and to the space itself. Accessories required for tea preparation and beautiful stationery, notebooks and cards frame the setting. They are displayed on a wall shelf that encircles the shop’s individual areas like a clasp. With its sprung floor, the shelf creates a lively background rhythm. Above the angular furniture, geometric wire frames containing traditional Chinese lamps hang from the ceiling and provide functional 76

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lighting. The choice of colours was influenced by the Chinese doctrine of the five elements, which associates black with water, the fundamental element in tea preparation, while white designates the minerals contained by tea. The various colours move between these two poles and create a calm, abstract background against which the subtle natural colours of the tea leaves on

display and the coloured glazes of the accessories can unfold a powerful impact. The success of his original shop proved Jens de Gruyter right, so in the autumn of 2014 he opened a second Paper & Tea shop.

In his design for the new shop in the Berlin district of Mitte, planner Fabian von Ferrari sought to express

and reflect the dynamism that the neighbourhood emanates.

The main element of the shop in Mitte is the seven metre-long “Wall of Tea�, a shelf on which a range of teas is clearly presented and classified as in a library according to their oxidation level, ranging from white teas through green and yellow, oolong and black up to 77

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ent levels, steel staircases and railings, and the brick masonry stripped of its white paint create an industrial charm, further underlined by the colourful, ornamental, Indian-inspired tiled floors.

The creators of Dishoom spent several days in Mumbai to choose the furnishings for their new restaurant in King’s Cross. This involved visiting a number of the remaining Parsi cafés to let their atmosphere inspire

the design of the new venue. They rummaged through hundreds of pieces of antique furniture from the early 20th century, which they then had imported to London and restored. Some of the furnishings, such as the benches or the large clock above the steel staircase, are replicas; the latter is an exact copy of the railway station clock in the main station of Mumbai. With turquoise walls and seating cushions, the designers cre-

ated contrasting colourful accents against the red brick and the dark wooden furnishings of the bar and the bench seats in the restaurant area.

The kitchen is open daily from morning until night.

And here, unlike at the two other Dishooms, you can find the dish Nalli Nihari – a hearty spiced lamb stew.

It is served with freshly baked Naan, the flatbread typical for Indian cuisine, and for those willing, the dish can also be finished off with Bheja – lamb’s brain.

The dish is traditionally cooked overnight and eaten for breakfast, and is a favourite of workers due to its nutritional value.

Carl Brown, who mixes the drinks in the Permit Bar, recently won a Young British Foodies prize for his cocktails at the Dishoom King’s Cross. The prize was awarded for a selection of barrel- and bottleaged cocktails served on ice. One of them is the Sir Jeejeebhoy, which consists of Ceylon arrack, aged in the barrel, lengthened with coconut water and orange bitters. The choice of beer is also impressive and freshly squeezed juices are offered in the juice bar throughout the day, including sugar cane juice with lime and salt – a traditional mix in Mumbai.

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MADE IN CHINA RESTAURANT | GOTHENBURG (S) Design: MAIN OFFICE, www.mainoffice.eu Material: massive oak clear varnished, steel with a clear black powder coating | Completion: 2014 Contact: Tredje Långgatan 9, 413 03 Gothenburg (S), www.madeinchina.nu | Owner: Avenyfamiljen

Gothenburg’s streets look anything but Chinese. Their mainly two- and three-storey buildings built in a closed perimeter block structure, many with red brick facades, are typical of western building traditions. One of these buildings, at Tredje Långgatan 9, used to be a warehouse until the Made in China restaurant opened its doors to lovers of Chinese cuisine, following the completion of the building’s conversion in October 2014. The firm Robach Arkitektur undertook the conversion and renovation of the old building. New restaurants, studios and 88

offices were built in its four thousand square-metre premises and a 140 square-metre space in the middle of Gothenburg is now home to a touch of the Orient.

Architect Isabella Eriksson from MAIN OFFICE designed the restaurant’s interior. In creating the new design she concentrated less on the cluttered features and fittings that were for many years typical of the way in which Chinese restaurants in Europe were made to look “Chinese”. Instead, she focused on the old building’s industrial atmosphere, emphasising its rugged,

purist character with the materials she chose. To reinforce the feeling of abundant space in the old warehouse, a wall once separating a delivery zone from the rest was demolished.

All the restaurant’s interior walls are plastered and painted dark grey, apart from one. The back wall is decorated with a huge painting in a style reminiscent of pictures from the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, although rather than representing Chinese subjects, it features the wharf and workers of Gothenburg.

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Tea Mountain is the name of a shop completed in Prague in December 2013, offering an exquisite range of high-quality teas from Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan and China. The Prague firm of A1 Architects, which was commissioned to design the shop, developed a two-part concept for Tea Mountain after intensive discussions with the owners.

A simple logo depicting a T tilted to the right and enclosed by a circle identifies the shop from the street.

The logo’s clear, sophisticated design establishes a 128

harmony with the interior design concept of the shop and café.

Two large openings establish visual links between the shop’s inside and outside, attracting the attention of passers-by to Tea Mountain. Inside visitors find a space divided into a light and dark zone, with a round arch in an existing vault marking the transition. The dark grey, almost black area that customers initially enter offers seating and tables where they can try the tea sold in Tea Mountain in peace and quiet. Dark walls create

an atmosphere of cosy security. The architects mixed pieces of coal and straw into the plaster covering the walls in the café area of Tea Mountain, giving their smooth surface a rough structure that evokes subtle echoes of the organic, living world. Wooden tables and seats also emanate naturalness. The stools’ black legs contrast with their light, round seats and the light tables also have dark legs. Seats and tables are illuminated by thick blackened tree trunks in their rough natural state, which are “clamped” vertically between

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the floor and ceiling. Irregular golden slits set into the tree trunks shed a warm, cosy light on the tables.

In contrast, the architects kept the sales area beyond the round arch in light colours. Extending along two thirds of the room’s length, the sales and display counter rests on a stack of raw ash wood planks of various lengths. Shelves next to and behind the sales counter, on which teas served in the shop are prepared and offered for sale, are also made of this wood. The counter is lit by five regularly spaced spherical white matt glass

pendant lights. With its high stools, the counter almost has the character of a bar. Details such as the limestone tray set into its surface surprise visitors exploring the shop and cafe. Various tea utensils, which are also for sale, are displayed on rough tree trunks of different heights that stand in the window facing the street.

The interplay of light and dark, sophisticated use of various materials and calm spatial effect of Tea Mountain demonstrate the architects’ success in translating something of the “spirit of tea” into the architecture. It

is the many minor details that contribute to the impressive overall effect. “Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others”2, wrote Okakura.

Something of the wisdom of this aphorism is reflected in the design of Tea Mountain.

1

Okakura, Kakuzo: Das Buch vom Tee. Frankfurt am Main/ Leipzig 1998, p. 9

2

ibid., p. 111 129

APPENDIX ADDITIONAL PROJECTS

140

AUTHORS

142

PHOTO CREDITS

143

139