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) It’s only natural that Vancouver, a coastal city stoked on local food, would have a lot of seafood restaurants. And we do. What’s surprising, however, is how so few design-forward, transportive dining rooms adequately represent the milieu. Of course there are some exceptions, but the generalization stands. We could use more, which is why my eyes opened a little wider when I saw this place…

WHAT IT IS: Designed by Paris/Beijing-based Soda Architects, the new seafood restaurant is meant to make guests feel like they’re in an underwater fantasy world with elaborately arranged, laser-cut, multi-coloured metal mesh scales that curve down from the ceiling to meet white walls and mirrors. Soft pinks, luminous marigolds, shiny brasses, gunmetal blues and plenty of under-lighting further the feeling.

WHERE IT IS: Deep in the bowels of the APM Shopping Mall on Wangfujing Street in Beijing, China.

WHERE WE WISH IT WAS: In the basement of one of the icon Sun Tower building at Beatty and West Pender.

WHY WE WISH IT WAS THERE: It’s an exceptionally interesting building (its basement, currently occupied by a slick gym, used to house the presses that printed the Vancouver Sun). With its storied old bones and position at the thresholds of Gastown and Chinatown, it would make for a good restaurant location.