New York designer Xuhui Zhang has chosen minimal furnishings and mint green accents for a local Chinese restaurant as a conscious effort to redefine East Asian design.
Junzi Kitchen is a fast-casual cafe on a popular corner in New York's Greenwich Village, at the intersection of Bleeker and Sullivan streets.

The restaurant measures 1,800 square feet (167 square metres), and was overhauled by local designer Xuhui Zhang, who is part of the restaurant's small in-house team.
Using a simple colour palette and contemporary designs, Zhang aimed to create a space that honoured her culinary heritage while showing it in a new light.

"Avoiding clichéd references to Chinese culture in the US, we refrained from using traditional patterns or symbols," she told Dezeen. The restaurant is light and bright, with concrete floors, white brick walls and pale wood seating. Soft green and pink colours are used for accents throughout, and can be seen on the windows, table posts, tiles, and a mesh design above the bar.

"Our colour inspiration came through a childhood memory of the early spring season in Northern China, when this type of food [noodles and wraps] is made by families following the lunar calendar tradition," said Zhang.
"Mint-green against snow white, along with the warm texture of natural birch, the combination perfectly captures the look, the fresh smell and the spirit of germination and growth, which is the key to the ambience of the space."

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