Tiny and small ants
Invite your grandparents
For meat
They sit in a sedan
Or ride a horse
--A nursery rhyme in Chongqing

In Sichuan and Chongqing dialects, “gaagaa” means “meat”. The project was designed to show the designer’s passion for his hometown and memory about the dishes during his childhood. Once upon a time, a sound “gaagaa” could arouse many memories. 

As the third Gewai restaurant in Chongqing, designed by Xie Ke, the Gaagaa Restaurant responds to the “kitchen robber” from the bottom of his heart and reflects his concerns about Chongqing with simple, plain, interesting, and smooth design languages. As a neighbor of Yiji Collection, a furniture shop founded by Xie Ke, the restaurant boasts a profound and restrained architectural style. 

The designer made some advances and retreats in the architecture, making the restaurant have abundant shadow changes, which are perfect if they are decorated with green plants. It’s easy to identify “Xie Ke’s style” in the restaurant, such as warm tones, simplicity, minimalism, and logs. These elements can help customers rapidly integrate into his world and experience the landscapes of Chongqing. Most of the wood tables, cabinets and artistic ornaments are from the neighboring Yiji Collection shop. The designer’s love for life and the city can be found all over the restaurant. The works of Tang Ke, an artist, are hung opposite to the entrance. He and Xie Ke were classmates at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and they share something in common in artistic expression.

There are 152 seats in the restaurant. Besides private rooms, it has semi-open areas, making the layout spacious and closely connected. Sunlight shines on the hung artworks via green plants, making customers experience poetic atmosphere that may allow them to lose track of time. The tables, chairs, walls, floor tiles, and goblets perfectly match the light, producing an elegant, harmonious scene. Xie Ke hopes that the restaurant can be an easy, inclusive place for social purposes. With diverse cuisines, it welcomes all walks of life and helps them get relaxed physically and mentally. 

The lobby as tall as 5m and the entrance have a subtle contrast: The low-profile architecture really has something different inside. The spacious inner space should have a more unconstrained traffic flow. The floor is handmade floor tiles from Jingdezhen. The restaurant was jointly made by groups that share the same craftsmanship, including the design team, material suppliers, and craftsmen. There is a “mysterious zone” on the left of the lobby, namely the space for the kitchen and staff, and it accounts for one third of the restaurant. Diners can see chefs’ hands, not their faces. The subtle design provides interesting dining experience. 

The small hall on the first floor is equipped with pottery and fabrics. The tags for specific groups have been eliminated. The overall style is simple and light like a cup of tea or wine. In the small hall, the tables, chairs, walls, floor tiles, and goblets perfectly match the light, producing an elegant, harmonious scene. 

Xie Ke expected that the restaurant can provide Asian cuisines. Besides Chinese dishes, it provides dishes of Southeast Asia and India as well. In addition, it keeps exploring localized tastes and dishes. His and the chef’s travels around the globe for delicacies and their routine experiences at local vegetable markets contribute to the success of the restaurant. 

gaagaa restaurant reflects the character of designers: “Design is not only a profession, but also a mental habit and devotion.”