In Paris, the neon red lights of a new, trendy restaurant shimmer across the Canal Saint-Martin: Gros Bao combines high-quality cuisine with a sophisticated ambience, while still allowing plenty of space for take-away operations.
In Paris, the neon red lights of a new, trendy restaurant shimmer across the Canal Saint-Martin: Gros Bao combines high-quality cuisine with a sophisticated ambience, while still allowing plenty of space for take-away operations.
If you walk along the Canal Saint-Martin, you can’t miss it. A neon-red canopy of lamps is reflected in the water of the canal behind slender wrought-iron supports and a hinged window. Outside, a queue of people grows longer and longer day and night. The new trendy address for Asian cuisine in Paris is not hiding. On the contrary, it makes its presence felt with four large openings facing the street and a no less immodest name: Gros Bao – which refers to the Chinese stuffed steamed buns (also known as baozi).
“The aim was to make the upper floor of the restaurant visible from the street in order to attract passers-by upstairs so that they can enjoy the view of the canal beneath the treetops,” says Lucie Rosenblatt from Mur.Mur architectes.
The new address is the second episode of her collaboration with the client, a Parisian woman from a Chinese family who opened her first restaurant, Petit Bao, a few years ago. “I think Petit Bao has really changed the codes of Chinese gastronomy in Paris by showing that it is possible to combine quality gastronomy with a refined atmosphere,” says Rosenblatt. The clients of the firm, which specializes in interior design, tend to be young and are often looking not only to redesign their spaces but also to overhaul their visual identity. For the second address in Paris, the aim was to recreate the atmosphere of an Asian market.
In order to follow this brief as closely as possible, architects and clients decided to travel to Hong Kong together, where they spent a week studying food and Chinese architecture. “Several pieces of furniture that can be found in the restaurant were actually bought in Hong Kong,” reports the architect. These include the plastic lamps that light up all the rooms at Gros Bao (and are supposed to make the meat redder in Hong Kong), as well as the tables with artificial marble veneer and the Formica chairs. Other elements are directly inspired by the markets and restaurants of the Asian metropolis.
“In Asia, there are not the same restrictions as here, and there is a more direct relationship between the street and the stores,” comments Lucie Rosenblatt on the design, while pointing out the hinged windows that open a counter to the street. “It must also be said that this is a project that we developed during the lockdown, which is why so much space is given to the takeaway,” she adds.
The restaurant comprises two floors: on the first floor there is a smaller room with an open kitchen and self-service counter and on the second floor there is a large, long, hall-like room with a bar and a small tea room. “Here, we removed the windows that hid the hall on the upper floor and moved the glass façade back to create a terrace with a view of the Canal Saint-Martin,” she explains. The effect is quite breathtaking: the hall is flooded with natural light, which is reflected in the epoxy resin floor.
The variations in red tones are omnipresent. While the floor is the same red as the lamps, all the walls, from which all the cladding of recent years has been removed, are painted a burgundy color that leaves the different textures of the ashlars, bricks and plasterboard visible. Only in two places were the walls treated differently: on the back wall of the hall on the upper floor and in the toilets, where graphic designer Sarah Martinon designed wallpaper that references Chinese ornamentation.
“So for this project, we were inspired by the kitschy side of Asian markets, which we modified to create a new imaginary world,” summarizes the architect. The restaurant’s menu is a good example of this philosophy: it is stuck to the walls like an advertising poster and was developed by the graphic designer in the style of typical Hong Kong menus, in which the dishes are presented with brightly colored photos.
Architects: Mur.Mur, Paris
Photos: Claudio Fleitas
Client: Gros Bao, Céline Chung, Billy Pham
Completion: 2021; Location: 72 Quai de Jemmapes, Paris
