Wukong Kitchen and Bar

Location: Shop 10/129 Queen St, Southport QLD 4215
Completion: June 2024
Fitout Area: 150 sqm
Builder: ENP Fitout
Photographer: Mike Curtain
Project Description: Curious and restrained, the new Wukong restaurant appears effortless in its purpose and personality. Yet, the journey to achieving this consistent outcome requires meticulous detail and strategy. Inspired by the Flaming Mountain from the 16c novel Journey to the West, the design offers unique dining experience within lava cave setting.

Our primary departure points for the design development of the interior spaces looked to the principles laid out by the client, which focused on ensuring a sense of place. Appealing to both fast and relax paced customers, the concept for the interiors is based on resonating images of a lava cave. The organic formation of a space with layered textures and the red running lava were sources of inspiration for the interior languages. This can be seen from the selection of material palette and rendered textures to the use of focused spotlights and the expansive fireplace, which collectively enable appreciation to the irregularity curved form. The considered lights and shadows put this unique interior experience on showcase, compliment to the enjoyment of dining.

The dining nodes are intentionally shadowed to amplify and frame the view, rendering the dark furniture as layered silhouettes cocooned by dark floor and ceiling finishes. This helps the hierarchy of experience, ensuring the view is recognised first. The view is then directed onto the curved walls, textures and the overall cave like form, fostering imagination and interaction to the 16th century novel – Journey to the West.

With this foundational understanding of Wukong’s business strategy, the design team sought to exhibit the restaurant’s cuisines and brand through restrained and curated design choices. The design team referred to the quote ‘Pare it back to the essence but don’t remove the poetry’, as reflective of the design processes for the physical environment.
For every decision, we thought about dining experiences in Wukong’s restaurant. To have the perfect dining or gathering, there is a moment to pause and go through the motions to have a sensory and tactile experience. This distinct and considered experience is a living environment through how people interact and carry themselves at Wukong.