The smell of freshly baked bread wafts from the entrance of Simplylife, a new bakery-cum-café located in Shenzhen’s upmarket mixC shopping complex. The seventh in a hit series of restaurants split between Guangzhou and Shenzhen and owned by the Hong Kong-based group M.A.X. Concepts, the crowds congregating at the entrance pay testament to the café’s popularity and China’s desire for all things European, with the menu listing a greatest hits of European and North American classics – Pan-Western, if you will – veering from strawberry pie and eggs Florentine, to clam chowder and freshly finished pastas.
The restaurant’s interior, however, is a local affair. Kowloon architecture firm BTR workshop have created a striking space that is airy yet cosy, and elegant but familiar at the same time. The confident application of raw materials such as stone and timber sets the mood, while warm earth tones that blanket everything from the plush furniture to the two-storey staircase soften the crisp yet jarring geometry of the main dining room.
INFORMATION
Website
ADDRESS
1881 Baoan Nan Road
Shenzhen
-
Step inside this Upper East Side jewel box apartmentThis radiant Lexington Avenue home is a harbinger of good things for the Upper East Side, and the latest focus of The Inside Story, our series spotlighting intriguing and innovative interior design
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of natureWOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
-
Is a tiny tattoo the best holiday souvenir? Kimpton Hotels think soIn partnership with Tiny Zaps, Kimpton Hotels is bringing city-inspired tattoo pop-ups to five U.S. locations
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
-
'Retreat and recharge' in Yanbai Villa on a secluded Beijing shorelineYanbai Villa wraps guests in quiet luxury, opening its doors on a secluded Beijing shoreline
