PEKING PAVILION (Manalapan, NJ)
When Michael and Corrina Kuo’s restaurant burned down in 2004, they turned to New York based Alvarez-Brock Design to create a completely new concept for their well-loved Peking Pavilion. The 130-seat Chinese restaurant was designed in its entirety—both exterior architecture and interiors—as a blend of refined traditional Chinese motifs and modern design.
The free-standing building is located on a busy stretch of road and thus a garden was designed to buffer the building and to create a transition from real life to the experience that is Peking Pavilion. The entrance to the restaurant is spectacular with an eleven-foot high Corian structure on which two Chinese characters representing luck and prosperity have been deconstructed graphically and reinterpreted. In the center, a glowing red door beckons the diner to enter a whole new world in Chinese dining.
The design concept draws from Chinese tradition yet is injected with a fresh, contemporary language. A custom-designed, gold-toned patterned mirror borders the lively bar. The Chinese characters at the entrance are reworked inside as twelve-foot high laser-cut aluminum screens which act to separate the bar and the main dining room.
The main dining room—neutral browns and white with red accents—is sophisticated and lively. Suspended above a twelve-seat communal table, is a spectacular chandelier created of 250 glass vessels, each with red paper inserts of various interpretations of the Chinese zodiac.
Finally, a second floor private dining room overlooks the restaurant and is perfect for intimate gatherings. Here, a beautiful skylight allows natural light or a celestial view. And 600 one-inch, black and white photographs—all of the owners’ family—are amassed as both a bold graphic statement and a reminder that fun and family are the heart of Peking Pavilion.
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