Come for the Food, Stay for the Store: 7 Stylish Restaurants With Shoppable Decor
A restaurant’s food, though the obvious focal point of a meal, is no longer the only component capturing the attention of iPhone-wielding diners. With the omnipresent food Instagram, patrons of restaurants seem much more aesthetically aware of the details around the plate, and chefs have taken note. More and more, they’re working directly with small dishware companies to customize their place settings, and they commonly decorate their restaurant interiors with finds from their personal travels or collections. For these chefs, the love isn’t given only to the ingredients on their menu, but to their decor as well.
It’s no surprise then that a growing number of restaurants have created small nooks (or in some cases, full-on floors) selling these carefully curated, often handmade items like Japanese ceramic cups, locally crafted cutting boards, and even antique books. Taking home a doggy bag used to mean heating up leftovers the next day. Now, you can take a piece of the dining experience with you—a token from the meal that will last much longer than a pretty post on Instagram.
Here, the seven best restaurants with design shops from around the world.
Photo: Courtesy of Rintaro / @mr_rintaro1/7Izakaya Rintaro—San Francisco
Opened earlier this year, the buzzy new restaurant in San Francisco is getting loads of attention for chef **Sylvan Mishima Brackett’**s izakaya plates that include traditional yakitori and uni donburi. Located in a small corner of the restaurant, Mishima Brackett also sells ceramic serving wares from Nama-Ya in Japan—the same beautifully crafted dishes he uses to plate the food served at Rintaro.
Photo: Courtesy of Hutspot / Facebook2/7Hutspot—Amsterdam
This urban space fancies itself a collective, offering cooking classes and off-site barbecues through its café with menu items like warm sugarbread for breakfast, and a grilled halloumi salad and pulled-pork sandwich for lunch. Aside from the food, its main sell is design, and everything in the well-curated shop is for sale. From handcrafted modern furniture to taxidermy animals, all of the brands are independent and thoughtfully sourced from around the world by the owners.
Photo: Courtesy of Nourish / @nourishkitchentable3/7Nourish Kitchen + Table—New York City
Locally sourced, seasonal fare is the bread and butter of Nourish Kitchen + Table in New York City, with items like zucchini-quinoa fritters and a signature Moroccan-spiced roast chicken. Nourish also takes care in finding and nurturing young designers, like Felt + Fat out of Philadelphia which makes porcelain plates for restaurants around the country. The in-store and online shop at Nourish also carries items like olivewood-and-bone salad servers made in Kenya and mud-cloth coasters crafted in Brooklyn.
4/7Le Café Chinois—Paris
With mismatched decor and a husband-and-wife duo who run the show, this is a real down-and-dirty teahouse with Old World charm. They serve rare blends of tea from around the world, as well as delightful soups, salads, sandwiches, and cakes. Tucked just beyond the main dining area there is a little boutique selling delicate china and lovely textiles culled from various locations around Asia.
Photo: Courtesy of Tates and Décor / @tastedecor5/7Casa Cavia—Buenos Aires
This concept space opened a few months ago in Buenos Aires’s Palermo Chico neighborhood. Built by San Francisco–based Kallosturin Architects inside a prominent twenties residence, the business is family owned, with the mother operating the clan’s publishing house upstairs, and the daughter overseeing the day-to-day downstairs. There’s a sleek new restaurant with five star–worthy dishes, a flower shop helmed by a costume designer, and a bookshop selling rare and current titles by Argentine authors.