Abstract
The Andheri redesign updates Mainland China’s dining environment while retaining its connection to Chinese tradition. Stone floors, brass inlays, beveled glass, marble and metal partitions organise the room, anchored by a decorative abacus wall. Advaita worked on the design until June 2022; the restaurant was completed in 2023.
Brief
Refresh a familiar restaurant for a younger contemporary setting while retaining the identity and sense of tradition valued by its regular guests.
Project story
Mainland China is a much-loved Chinese restaurant chain, famous for the tagline 'If It's Chinese, It's Mainland China.' For its Andheri location we were asked to rebrand and reimagine the space, translating a menu that travels from Sichuan to Jiangsu to the streets of Beijing into a single dining room.
The redesigned interior pairs stone flooring with brass inlays, beveled glass wall paneling, and ribbed glass partitions set with marble. Metal partitions divide the room, and a decorative abacus wall, built bead by bead, anchors the whole composition.
The result sits deliberately between old and new: a contemporary room that still carries the weight of Chinese tradition. The aim was to make a familiar restaurant feel young again without losing what its regulars loved about it.
I worked on the design until I left F'KD in June 2022; the restaurant was completed in 2023.
A familiar identity, reworked
Stone, brass, glass and metal form the restaurant’s updated material language. The circular brick-wall detail belongs to that balance between a contemporary room and the Chinese references carried through its partitions and decorative elements.