Behind a black glass facade on Vienna’s grand Landstrasser Hauptstrasse is Lingenhel, a restaurant, artisan cheese manufactory (käserei), shop for fine meats and provisions, and “gourmet meeting point” by culinarian Johannes Lingenhel. Designed by Austrian firm Destilat, the space preserves the historic building’s architecture and the belief that many things get better with age. Here’s a look inside.
Photography by Monica Nguyen, courtesy of Destilat.
Above: In the front shop, floating shelves on a black wall display fine olive oils and other goods. As a nod to the long ripening process of the cheese and meats that they sell, the building materials are meant to patina with age: “The counter will become more and more beautiful by being used daily,” Destilat says.
Above: Destilat’s display counters “evoke images of cubically stacked wooden beams, which were inspired by the beams of the historic roof truss” in the old Austrian building.
Above: A recessed black marble-clad niche allows drinkers and diners to fit their knees comfortably underneath the bar. Diamond-shape niches, inspired by the brand’s logo, ingeniously store bottles of wine. The black bar stools are Branca by Mattiazzi.
Above: In the restaurant, archways and vaulted ceilings, painted white, preserve the feeling of what used to be the building’s stables. The black spindle-back chairs are Patricia Urquiola’s Nub chair, available via Andreu World.
Above: Buster + Punch’s exposed-bulb lights, hung from the center of the ceiling, illuminate each table.
Above: Small white Hippo chairs from Blå Station flank two-top tables. (The chairs are no longer available online; contact Blå Station for more information.)
Above: Mesh screens, suspended from the ceiling, create a subtle divide between tables.
Above: In the back of the restaurant, the cheese dairy is enclosed by a full-length glass wall through which visitors can watch the artisanal process unfold.
Above: In the adjacent tasting room, visitors can sample cheeses at a communal wooden table. The nearly invisible white mesh chandeliers are the Meshmatics Chandeliers by Atelier Rick Tegelaar. The designers preserved the stone archways and basins original to the space.
We’re dreaming of a late-fall wine and design trip through Europe and adding Lingenhel to our list. Also on our radar:
- Scandi in the Mitte: Antiqued Interiors at Dottír in Berlin
- Sustainability Style (and Food) at Native Restaurant in Antwerp
- Restaurant Visit: The Musling in Copenhagen by Space Copenhagen
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