The Cut Restaurant In Shanghai, China / Kokaistudios

Architects: Kokaistudios
Area: 670 m²
Year: 2014
Photography: Charlie Xia
Chief Architects: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani
Interior Design Manager: Michelle Shao
Design Team: Caddie Qu
Client: VOL Group
City: Shanghai
Country: China

The Cut Restaurant in Shanghai, China, designed by Kokaistudios, offers a modern take on a steak frites brasserie at IAPM Mall. Developed by VOL, this flagship venue combines simple, high-quality dishes with an urban warehouse-inspired interior. The restaurant spans two floors, featuring a central kitchen, dining areas, a lounge bar, and a terrace with views of Xiangyang Park. Natural materials, custom elements, and playful decor create a welcoming atmosphere. Kokaistudios’ design emphasizes openness and social interaction, making The Cut a new benchmark for F&B outlets in malls.

The Cut Restaurant in Shanghai, China / Kokaistudios

The brief aimed to craft a modern ambiance for a classic steak frites brasserie, focusing on simple yet high-quality offerings—rib eye steak, fries, and green salad. As the flagship for a brand set to expand across malls in China, it demanded exceptional design and execution. Kokaistudios’ approach was to create an open and welcoming environment resembling an urban warehouse, a concept that stands out from the enclosed restaurants and open food courts typically found in major Asian shopping malls.

The Cut spans two floors at the rooftop level of IAPM, offering a mix of standard and communal seating suitable for both small and large groups. The lower floor includes the main entrance, kitchen, dining area, and salad bar. The upper floor features an additional dining space, a lounge bar, and a terrace with prime views of Xiangyang Park and the Jing’an district. Besides high tables for alfresco dining, a wooden platform on the terrace steps creates a casual and relaxed seating area.

The main restaurant floor features a sharp, diagonal cut through the irregular retail space, dividing the kitchen from the dining area. Architecturally, the kitchen resembles a roughly cut cube emerging from the restaurant floor, supported solely by metal structures from the ceiling. Rectangular windows in the brightly lit kitchen provide a stark contrast to the warmly lit dining area outside.

Natural and rustic materials dominate the restaurant’s design, including recycled wood counters, metal mesh, exposed brick walls, stone mosaic floors, open metal ceilings, and cement plaster. Custom-designed wheel-mounted tables and mobile serving stations enhance the unpolished interior, while bold-colored chairs and cushions add playful contrasts. Columns serve as menu holders, each equipped with a rail for hanging clipboard menus. Kokaistudios also blends retail and F&B into an integrated experience, incorporating eye-catching graphics and objects such as a cow carcass hanging from the storefront ceiling, bright neon signs, a large back-lit logo, and framed artworks on the walls.

At first glance, The Cut may appear simple, but it is a unique project that redefines F&B outlets in shopping malls. Its open, unassuming design, complemented by pendant lamp lighting and large windows, creates a welcoming and inviting atmosphere at the top of IAPM. The restaurant’s human scale and tactile design make it feel like a neighborhood bistro where friends can gather and build relationships with the staff. It encourages patrons to enjoy their meal and relax, contrasting with the rushed, clinical environments of modern fast-food outlets.

Kokaistudios crafted a compelling environment for The Cut, effectively conveying the brand’s values of openness and nourishing food while realizing its vision as a social space. The studio’s European background, expertise in contextualizing projects, and commitment to public benefit played crucial roles in developing this innovative project. As patrons gather and interact, The Cut transforms into a social hub for a new generation of diners seeking more than just basic dining experiences.

The Cut’s innovative blend of functions, layout, and brand development exemplifies a new type of F&B outlet that contrasts sharply with typical, brightly lit mall environments. Combining excellent food, a convivial atmosphere, and engaging decor, this flagship location at IAPM sets a new standard for future venues.