Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A slice of Havana Cuba hits Sydney



The original La Bodeguita Del Medio opened in Havana Cuba in 1950, and is famed for being the home of the mojito! The concept has since developed into a global icon with sites in Prague, Macedonia, Miami, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Beirut & Mexico City.

It is now time for Sydney to experience the delightfully bohemian, sophisticated old world service and cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Cuban themed La Bodeguita del Medio Restaurant.

Design Clarity and the La Bodeguita team started work two years ago to refine and evolve the designs for the Sydney restaurant. The final 650sqm site covers two levels of a character heritage building in York St opposite the Queen Victoria Building.

The upper level above street entry has high exposed timber panelled ceilings, suspended antique ceiling fans, raw brickwork archways, a personalised rum locker, spectacular rum barrel display, Spanish cedar humidor, main feature timber bar, lush palms and access to an external luxury cigar lounge balcony overlooking the rear laneway.

The basement level is a more intimate volume with a live music stage and second bar, along with the main working kitchen and storage zones. All the furniture is rich, dark-stained traditional timber with studded leather upholstery and has a solid, aged quality.

The lighting is moody and the walls throughout are adorned with hand scrawled thoughts of patrons, plus some fabulous hand painted murals. And an old Ernest Hemmingway overlooks the scene at the maitre D’ station beside his famous quote “My mojito in La Bodeguita”. Look hard and you might even find the DC logo alongside a red 1950s Cadillac sketch (It’s not often designers get to sign the interiors of their projects!)






 

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