Designed by Minus Workshop, Sexy Crab is a newly opened small noodle bar missioned to bring the renowned cultural comfort food of Shanghainese crab roe noodle daily from Shanghai to Hong Kong

The portion usually serve in large pot scale in Shanghai due to the complexity in ingredient preparation, this leads to the reason of why small groups of 2-4 had difficulty in ordering. “Sexy Crab” seizes this notch and manage to deliver it in a ramen bowl and serve inside this small standalone noodle bar. The brand strategy and interior design of “Sexy Crab” was curated by Minus Workshop. It is a modern Shanghainese noodle bar where customers are able to experience the strong twist of cultural shock from passing, entering and dining.

It is situated at the charming building of K11Musea Hong Kong but sited behind the escalator of the 4/F, an 540sq.ft. small spot. The design strategy about how to captivate passersby into this unbright crib became our prelude of the project.

The design of “Sexy Crab” considered in creating a strong twist of visual contrary to customers. We arranged the subterranean den concept and prominent Shanghainese crab roe noodle together to establish cultural contrary, such uniqueness creates memorable dining experience for people, draws retention to this small noodle bar with a capacity of 23 people. The statement signage is designed in strong purple neon to create attention from the unbright corridor. Greeted by a featured functional rack of chopsticks and beer glass holder in rustic iron, people get to select their utensils to create interaction with the space. Many understated oriental flavors were infused throughout the design, contours of Chinese ornamentation were transformed into various features of the shop such as the table, the mirror motifs and ceiling modules. Reflective materials were chosen to generate sexiness and intriguing visual reactions with the surrounded neon lights. the dining area is enveloped by the neon floor border, echoed by the open noodle bar for intimate cookery performance. The outlines of the Yangcheng Lake and Tai Lake (famed origin of Shanghainese hairy crab) were hand hammered on the plastered wall for such gnarled wall statement.

Design: Minus Workshop Photography: Edmon Leong Photography

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