Hasta La Ideas

Red-stained cabinets crafted from MDF surround the open kitchen of restaurant Remi in Berlin designed by local studio Ester Bruzkus Architekten.

Remi is situated near Berlin’s Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz square and is led up by Dutch chefs Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi.

This is the second restaurant that the pair have in the German capital, joining Lode & Stijn which opened its doors in 2016.

As with their inaugural restaurant, the chefs were keen for Remi to have a pared-back aesthetic – but also wanted the space to be reminiscent of the dining spots they once frequented at home in the Netherlands.

“For Remi, we were inspired by the grand cafes of our home, where we used to enjoy eating together,” Zuylen and Remi explained.

“We wanted to create a place where you could meet easily, whether for reading the newspaper, a quick lunch, or an intimate dinner.”

Local studio Ester Bruzkus Architekten was brought on board to develop the interiors of Remi, which takes over the ground floor unit of a new concrete and glass office building.

The restaurant is anchored by an open kitchen, enclosed by a series of MDF cabinets that have been stained a deep cherry red hue.

A handful of surfaces in the kitchen have been covered in rough grey stucco, while sheets of perforated metal have been used to conceal service ducts that sit beneath the ceiling.

“We used architectural materials that are high in quality, carefully sourced and crafted, with rigorous attention to detail,” the studio told Dezeen. “this is the very approach to ingredients that the chefs bring to crafting a meal.”

The same red shade of MDF has been used to make the tall gridded shelves that run along the rear wall of the restaurant, openly displaying wine bottles, glassware and jars of ingredients.

Cherry-red MDF has then been combined with black granite to form the service counter where guests are greeted by staff before being shown to their table.

Metal-frame dining tables with grey countertops designed bespoke by Ester Bruzkus Architekten have been dotted throughout the room.

One long communal table where guests are encouraged to “linger all day” has also been placed beside the restaurant’s entrance.

Each table is accompanied by timber or acid-yellow chairs by Danish furnishing brand Please Wait To Be Seated. There’s additionally a couple of wooden benches with seat cushions upholstered in mustard corduroy fabric by Kvadrat.

Red, yellow and steel editions of Muller Van Severen‘s Hanging Lamps have been mounted on the restaurant’s walls as decoration. White-neon tube lights also wind and intersect across the ceiling.

Ester Bruzkus Architekten has been established since 2002. Remi isn’t the only Berlin restaurant designed by the studio – back in 2018, it completed LA Poke.

Taking cues from David Hockney’s 1967 painting A Bigger Splash, the eatery features vibrant pops of summery hues such as cobalt blue and sunshine yellow.

Photography is by Robert Rieger.

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