This is a collection of the most creative restaurant designs in the world, from risky and modern to traditional and laid back. This compilation of vivid photographs and detailed layouts gives examples ...
Unlike its business-class U.S. counterpart, Courtyard by Marriott in Asia is considered a five-star luxury brand. A traditional coffee shop was hardly the right concept to impress the brand's target market of well-heeled business travelers and locals. So to keep their business on premises, Marriott rolled out MoMo Café in Asia, a mixed-use space that blends high design with functionality and versatility.
MoMo Café shows how much guests' lifestyle preferences have changed hotels' all-day dining restaurants. Breakfast may still be a definable meal period, but the rest of the day and night have to be customizable. "We united the restaurant, bar and lounge into one area that functions as a workspace during the day and a bar scene at night," explains Fitz Aguilar, vice president of operations at Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International.
How that space looks from Courtyard to Courtyard, Aguilar says, is open to interpretation. In Bangkok, the MoMo Café (designed by locally based P 49) features communal tables, assorted seating, flexible lighting and splashes of color. But it also serves up high-tech features that include wireless Internet and LCDs for business travelers who want to work while they snack or just enjoy tea, coffee or a glass of wine. Since its opening last October, Aguilar says the hotel is looking into design tweaks to make the space more user-friendly, including height-adjustable or double-layered tables that allow guests to park a laptop on one layer and perch their coffee on another.
Getting hotel operators on-board with the design-driven concept has been a challenge, says Karen Kim, Marriott's senior director, interior design. Individual hotel owners equate high design with high costs.
They worry that designers will select high-priced materials that would blow their budget. "Quality of design doesn't require that you spend a lot; it just means the project should look like you did," Kim says. "You can punctuate the space with up-to-date materials, like stainless steel, rather than cover the entire restaurant with it."
In addition to cafés in Bangkok and Hong Kong, plans call for up to six more cafés to open in the next year. The feedback on MoMo "has been great," says Aguilar. "For us, that's the benchmark for going forward with the concept."
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
