At the beginning of 2022, the fifteen-year-old brand Siji Minfu originated in Beijing eventually launched its maiden expansion outside the city and opened a new outlet on the Wusong road of the Bund Shanghai. Upon opening, the restaurant has become a much-visited place and generated despite an average waiting time of two or three hours not a single compliant on the social media, but rather numerous positive reviews that “the delicious food is worth all the wait”.

 The space design is by Wu Wei, designer from Beijing IN•X Design Company, who has once again created a catering space for Siji Minfu that will result in distinctive memories—through powerful and recognizable brand genes tinted with splendid and solemn Beijing culture. 

The internal space of the restaurant that spans 1,180 square meters was designed to be in an irregular shape of the letter “D”. The private dining rooms and the chef’s kitchen were arranged along the straight wall, the equipment room and the warehouse in the corner on the right, and the main dining area and view area along the parabola-like wall, of which the glass wall added to the loveliness and liveliness of the space by enabling customers to enjoy outdoor views in the well-lit area. 

Walking from the waiting area to the landscape of a Beijing-style porch featuring grey bricks and tiles, customers will arrive at the main entrance, where an open cellar with glass walls on three sides and a dimly lit U-shaped bar counter on the left and right side respectively create two contrasting atmospheres. The landscape of old brick walls coupled with the use of modern materials such as metal and acrylic interprets the vibes of the space in a perfect way. 

In the north of the main entrance, the arrangement of booths and round tables emphasizes a sense of order, the red pillars become the highlight of the plain-colored space, the metal nets separate tables from tables without completely blocking the view so as to visually create a sense of ceremony, the bricks and stones echo the broken walls, and the well-lit cellar lit up the innermost part of the space. On the other side of the space, the original and antique wood walls naturally form another function area. 

At the north end of the space, the entire wall made of rough bricks is connected with the ceiling. Three curved wall structures are designed to separate the VIP rooms from booths in the main dining area, and arranged in a way that each of the structures seems rotating clockwise to open the doors to the VIP rooms for customers, through which the art of architecture in the entire internal space is expressed to the fullest. Both the smell of food and the cultural landscapes become secondary, which gives room for the expressiveness of the “grand background” characterized by roughness and substance.