Project Team
design: Giant Design
builder: Crosbie Projects
Suppliers
furniture: Cafeideas, Sounds Like Home
lighting: Tudo & Co, Duck Fat.com.au, custom design Giant (Prestige Signs) T&Z Lighting
signage: Prestige Signs
Holy Duck is a new generation Chinese BBQ & Roast restaurant serving contemporary interpretations of traditional duck & pork dishes alongside refined street-food options and modern Asian burgers. It’s a Chinese version of the ‘edgy burger concept’ trend that continues to flourish in the modern hospitality scene.
Our brief was to create a space that spoke of the Chinese-fusion food on offer, without resorting to cliché, that would appeal to both the local Chinese community, and importantly the inner city ‘beers and burgers’ market (the restaurant is located a stones throw from Chinatown in Sydney’s increasingly hip Chippendale). This would be no easy feat, but a challenge we accepted with pleasure.
The site, a ground floor tenancy in a recently converted warehouse, came with some beautiful elements, a heritage façade, an exposed brick wall and very generous ceiling heights, but was essentially a voluminous concrete block work space that would need a killer element to be able to snatch attention on a street and precinct already packed with dining choices. That star element became the custom light installation at the rear of the restaurant, which acts as both beacon and branding, and gets past the council requirement for limited signage on the façade, whilst adding theatre and sparkle to the minimally lit space.
Other key features include a digitally printed sheer fabric wall hanging that adds softness and movement, not to mention toungue in cheek humour, as well as the terracotta roof tile counter face and web of bunker lights on the exposed brick wall.