Viet Next Door: Vietnamese Tapas Bar in Adelaide by Genesin Studio.

Adelaide-based Genesin Studio have recently completed a small but super beautiful hospitality project, Viet Next Door, designed for a second generation Vietnamese Chef Ben Phan. The Phan family’s welcoming hospitality and sharing of secret family recipes inspired the warm and textural Vietnamese Tapas Bar. The delicious food is served upon equally delicious locally-made bespoke eggshell mosaic tables, connecting traditional artisan craft with seasonal modern food.

The brief called for a venue where the chef/ owner could express his creative culinary energy, while paying resects to his traditional training and background. Genesin Studio drew inspiration from Phan family humble beginnings in Vietnam, where simple materials were used into practical details. Viet Next Door needed to express a new energy and a culinary maturity, at the same time offering a sense of the familiar, and thus creating an authentic cultural connection.

The small restaurant space was carefully planned to seat 45 patrons, while providing a glimpse into the hustle of the back kitchen. “The combination of general dining, bar seating, or groups in booths offers several ways to enjoy the space in varying material hierarchy,” shares Ryan Genesin. The main bar is long and narrow, maximising patron connectivity with service staff.

See more projects by Genesin Studio on Yellowtrace.

The lighting was crucial in creating a mood that captured a ‘made’ quality in an intimate space. The idea of ‘local’ was important to the client, so every effort was made to engage with South Australian makers and materials. The custom made brass and glazed ceramic lights were designed and manufactured in collaboration with the Jam Factory Ceramicist Damon Moon, and Jeweller & Metalsmith Christian Hall.

The dark grey flamed granite floor and walls morph into the split-face bar top, setting a perfectly-imperfect tone for a rustic-minimalist aesthetic. The entry and the bar are surrounded by rusty-red upholstered bench seats and granite tables. The bench seat features a matching powdercoated frame, providing casual and fun seating that contrasts the granite bar.

Oak strapped walls with inlaid woven grass wallpaper sit above the booths, referencing traditional grass and bamboo huts of Vietnamese villages. The leather booth upholstery deliberately blends into the oak joinery, while also providing contrast to the granite finish. The booth area features locally made tables with textural tops finished in centuries-old artisan craft of eggshell mosaic. These were lacquered and finished with elegant brushed brass edges.

The combination of granite, timber and the grass wallpaper creates a highly textural space. “It is one of those spaces you walk into and start rubbing your hands on all the surfaces,” says Ryan Genesin. “The proportions of the space are long and narrow, which worked in our favour when making a modest venue where the bar staff can check on seated patrons and the space feels very connected and intimate.”

So in the end, what do I love the most about this interior? It’s many layers and an intricate complexity that punches well above the restaurant’s size. Viet Next Door is a sophisticated interior, that also feels natural, uncomplicated and entirely authentic, capturing a new energy while balancing tradition. It’s a fresh new take on Vietnamese restaurants, that somehow manages to pay homage to both the Vietnamese and South Australian artisan craft. When you break it down, it’s all so simple yet really quite complex. But Genesin Studio have managed to make sense of it all so effortlessly, and totally nail it in the process.

Respect.

See more projects by Genesin Studio on Yellowtrace.