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Culture on Demand:
I Can See a Rainbow
Why Asia's restaurants are never black or white
By STAN STALNAKER
February 26, 2000
Web posted at 4 a.m. Hong Kong time, 3 p.m. EST
Life's been getting so colorful lately. Aside from Hong Kong's hazy sunsets and the vibrancy of India's dialogue with Pakistan, I am referring to the recent proliferation of color-themed restaurants and bars around Hong Kong and Singapore.
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It's a little odd how these things start. I'm sure no one is copying each other, but it is somewhat amusing that in Hong Kong alone several places have recently sprouted with colors as the main theme: first there was Brown, a chic eatery that opened almost a year ago in the Happy Valley area of the city. The venture has been so successful that the restaurant crowd is buzzing with talk of two more restaurants opening soon--both by NuNu, the fashionable face behind the concept.
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Brown was followed by Blue, a chic nouveau-Australian spot with sleek, minimalist design and cushy chairs. With opening hours that resemble random chaos ("oh, we're closing for three weeks to, just, hang...") reservations are a commodity when the doors swing open. Then the local entrepreneurs branched out a bit--the simple Yellow Frog debuted in Central, followed by the extravagantly expensive (over $640,000) Green Spot, near Brown in Happy Valley.
In Singapore, the trend seems to be catching on, with the signature restaurant at the Shangri-La hitting the circuit, christened Blu. (At least now the spelling is getting creative.) Actually Blu is very cool, especially later in the evening. Populated by a mix of those banker types and the "I am sleek, hear me purr" crowd, it's possible to people gaze while the lounge singer ties up your heart in a neat little bundle and carts it back to Birmingham, her hometown. England, not Alabama.
Her tunes are especially nice on the balcony, where the music pipes softly out and floats away on the only breeze in Singapore (from a confluence of height and city planner-induced air currents).
Inside, vapored lights float up the wall like water in a pond, creating a very Philippe Starck atmosphere. Not bad for impressing those new clients with the big budgets!
It will be interesting to see what the next big restaurant trend is. My guess? The elements: air, water, fire and earth. To me it sounds very just-around-the-corner on my new new new list.
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