You might think that anyone with great business ideas like Nobu Hotel in London would just walk to your enterprise and propose you to join with him. Especially It’s not every day that Robert De Niro walks into your restaurant, sits down, and proposes a worldwide business venture before picking up the check. That’s exactly what happened in the late 1980s when the actor/director gave in to his curiosities about a new Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine that was turning heads in Beverly Hills. The chef he approached, Nobu Matsuhisa, famously refused for four years before embarking on the Nobu adventure that continues to this day. This year their luxury hotel design was awarded by its architectural design at New London Architecture Awards 2018 in Hotel&Hospitality category.
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Celebrating London’s multiculturalism and its status as a world culinary capital, Nobu Hotel Shoreditch is just not hotel or restaurant. It is full experience with luxury design hotel space and the luxury hotel’s culinary program the show stealer here—a show that includes a design homage to Shoreditch’s industrial heritage, augmented by Japanese artistry: Chef Nobu’s signature Japanese-Peruvian dishes pull in star-studded crowds at the eponymous restaurant and bar—which also includes a chef’s table, a sushi counter, and an outdoor courtyard—while a fireside
Lobby Lounge & Bar offers small bites and handmade cocktails in a more casual setting. Nobu Hotel Shoreditch offers private dining and event spaces for up to 200 and 148 guestrooms featuring such in-room treats as custom-made yukata robes and traditional Japanese tea sets.
Interior and architectural designs main goal was to marry Shoreditch’s industrial heritage with Japanese artistry, the interior design team created a textural interplay throughout the property: Japanese patchworks, tea sets, and Oriental design pieces contrast polished gray concrete, paginated metal, and dark stone. Rich timber and brass elements are also accentuated by low lighting and a dark color scheme.
As Architectural goal was contrasting the red-brick buildings and converted warehouses of Shoreditch, the Nobu hotel’s structure is a contemporary tapestry of glass, concrete, steel, timber, and bronze.
About building the luxury hotel restaurant complex from scratch, both De Niro and Nobu compared the process and idea threw their own professional worlds; Robert De Niro: There’s a clear parallel between the two. There are people with different, specified tasks—interior designers, architects, set designers, the hair and make-up team, the director—and you all work together to orchestrate the final product. And then the director shouts “cut!” and announces they’ve changed their mind completely!
Nobu Matsuhisa: Well, being a chef is about taking your ingredients, applying a set of techniques, and using your vision and judgement to make a dish. In the Nobu restaurants, people spend a few hours eating and drinking, but in a hotel the whole experience can last months. And there are so many service points, from check-in to housekeeping, to room service, to how well the guest has slept that night—and there’s the whole dining experience on top of that.
As seen and told by told professional of own industry, future grand business idea can come from your door anytime!
