sal curioso

after the success of madam sixty ate, a european restaurant founded by a whimsical chef of great imagination, we were appointed to brand a second restaurant with spanish influences in the hub of hong kong’s vibrant culinary scene.

madam’s story centered on her strange journeys and encounters with surreal animals, so it seemed natural to provide her with a quirky companion who could share her discoveries. sal curioso is madam’s spanish ex-lover, an eccentric inventor and an uncommon genius. he meticulously designs and builds contraptions specifically to best broil, steam or pop the strangely shaped animals from madam’s travels into a delicious dish. his inventions include the duck bobber, caulitail steamer, guacaloco and squid pop, all displayed throughout the 2,000 square foot space. it is madam’s dishes, featuring among others, joseph the flower-headed duck and pedro the fish with a cauliflower tail, that inspire each invention.

each device is accompanied by sal’s personal annotations of his design, construction process and his creative scrawls of his registered trademarks. the collection of schematic drawings and documents fill the food menus as patents, the interior is his studio occupied by his machines, hung with business card as licensing labels for copyrights. even the coasters on tables are not immune from sal’s touch – they are designed to draw water condensation from cocktails, a piping system that transports the liquid when coasters are placed together to connect the pipes.

a great thinker, sal is a prolific writer who displays his wall of books written and illustrated  himself, displaying a fascination for innovative cooking techniques and antiquated culinary history.