LOONG Restaurant

Studio NUTRO presents a new project in the commercial segment – the interior of a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, created for a wealthy audience that appreciates Chinese cuisine as a cultural experience, not just gastronomy.
The main idea of ​​the project is to turn eating into a kind of meditation, where space is the backdrop for a deep experience, and design is a quiet story about the East, speaking through material, form, and light.

The space is built on the principle of monolithicity with point material accents: wood, natural red marble, rattan, bamboo, leather and woven ribbon form a warm, natural base. Above the entire space is a wooden lattice ceiling-cassette with Chinese characters, which reads as a separate layer of the narrative.

The lighting in the project is intentionally intimate: soft, local, and directed light does not immediately reveal the space, but leaves room for shadow and contrast — illuminating the stone from the inside, outlining the contours of fabric panels, and gathering the gaze in warm spots on the tables.

The centerpiece of the hall is a massive bar counter made of natural red marble with a black dragon engraving and backlighting at the bottom, topped with a wooden pagoda frame with hanging glasses. The legs of the bar are supported by sculptural dragons made of the same marble – a detail that immediately sets the drama of the space.

A cylindrical red marble counter and tall bananas in rattan pots greet the guest, a threshold that immediately immerses them in the restaurant’s “quiet theatricality.” The main dining room is organized around a communal solid wood table with a live edge under an alabaster lamp in a black metal frame, as well as two- and four-seater oak tables, leather-woven chairs, and marble dragon sculptures.

Separately, the design includes niche and private tables—chambered areas with carved wooden dragon reliefs, wooden lattice screens with carved hieroglyphs, and alabaster pendants on bamboo poles. These are intimate corners within the large space where you can “hide.”