Description:

Our clients, a young group of entrepreneurs, came to us with the concept of starting a noodle restaurant. The brief - a friendly, energetic, and dynamic atmosphere. The challenge - a super small budget. Beyond a tenancy they were keen on, and their vision of creating their own noodles for their Asian-fusion restaurant they didn't have much of an aesthetic in mind. It was then over to us, and so the fun began…

Understanding that the budget was going to be gobbled up by the requirements of building compliance regulations and mandatory fit out expenses of a commercial kitchen, our design had to use budget friendly, out of the box methods. Our research took us to places like Motel Mexicola in Bali, Kiss Kiss in Auckland and Rice Rice Baby in Mount Maunganui. These places had interiors that sparked conversation, promoted fast paced dining and provided the ‘wow’ factor that we were looking for.

Misoi is different from other Asian-fusion restaurants because they make their own noodles - this is their niche and so became our main inspiration. Branding was designed with sans-serif typography, and the word Misoi separated to help with pronunciation. Outlined letters to mimic LED lighting and colours were to be used within the fitout.

Interior painting of the tenancy was part of the construction brief and we considered this a prime opportunity to push the boundaries of design. We explored how far we could transform the space with paint and colours from the logo. We used the following techniques as our starting point - Colour blocking doors and frames, different colours to walls, walls with angled colour blocking, and painting 2/3rds up in one colour and then switching to another. We then included the ‘noodle’ in the most literal form of swirly lines handpainted on the walls. This same noodle pattern was then repeated on oilcloth for small rectangular tables, referencing the fast paced dining of roadside eateries around Asia. Colour is screamed from every corner of this tenancy - and draws you in from the street.

We used a mixture of short and tall seating to accommodate different sized groups, and at the same time stimulate a mixture of conversations.

It was important to us to ensure the restaurant wasn't just all paint and we used a large cluster of white paper lanterns to break the uniform ceiling grid and provide ambience at night. We also considered the materiality of the counter front, using Laminex’s demi round, almost mimicking dried ramen noodles.

Misoi encapsulates everything a friendly, dynamic, fast paced Asian-fusion restaurant should. While this fitout is very budget friendly, the love and soul created by the interiors and food made here speaks volumes.