Restaurant Porn is a regular column of daydreams presented as a means to introduce Vancouver diners and designers to concepts, looks, and fully-formed ideas that they might draw an inkling of inspiration from. We do our best to pair the foreign rooms with local addresses so as to let everyone in on the fantasy.
(via) The distinct smell of a fish and chips shop has so indelibly seared into my olfactory wiring that whenever I get a whiff of it – perhaps at The Fish Counter on Main Street or Red Fish Blue Fish in Victoria – it gives me a head rush. Rather shockingly, however, for an oceanside, food-fetishizing city with something of an Anglophilic history, Vancouver doesn’t have as many fish and chip options as you would expect. It would be great to see new additions to the scene, especially if they looked at the concept from different angles, either by inviting new flavours and traditions to play along, or by exceeding design expectations. This place does both…
WHAT IT IS: Smallfry Seafood — an upmarket, Japanese-inflected fish & chip restaurant that caters to office workers. Designed by Sans-Arc Studio, the interior is a clean, polished mix of blue tiles, travertine walls and stained wood. Though the colour palette and materials employed cleave to the typical seafood restaurant aesthetic, the vibe is entirely modern and bereft of cliche. And I bet it smells good, too!
WHERE IT IS: In the heart of the South Australian capital of Adelaide.
WHERE WE WISH IT WAS: I was thinking the old Kim Heng Noodles location in Chinatown (619 Gore Street) would be nice for this concept (the long dormant address is currently being renovated for something entirely different), but it would probably be better suited to the old Japantown drag of Powell Street.
WHY WE WISH IT WAS THERE: Because it would be great to see more businesses in Japantown with at least some Japanese bent to them.
Photography by David Sievers.
Because Vancouver sucks. Vancouver is a no fun city with a no fun mayor.
nobody goes to a fish and chip shop for the decor guvenor
Yet.
This is supposed to be cutting edge? I’d argue that Finest at Sea is just as nice at this place is. Crab Park Chowdery is fine establishment for chowder. This is really far from Restaurant Porn…