Fujiwara Yoshi
Located in Kiev, Ukraine, Fujiwara Yoshi was designed by Sergey Makhno Architects to be a Japanese restaurant with Ukrainian soul.
Fujiwara Yoshi is an 800 square meter maze designed to get lost in the greatness of Japanese culture and not even try to find a way out. Your glances will be captivated by details, — try to notice every single one.
The labyrinth stretches past the terrace-garden. Panoramic windows fill it with a flood of daylight. Author’s lighting by Makhno floats underneath the black ceiling: the minimalist Gemini, the laconic ceramic Runa, and if you look into the Lakuna lamps, you will see Japan itself. Floor lamps, made in the form of the chasen (a whisk for matcha tea), sow tender light directly to the guests’ plates.
The garden throws the shadows at the sitting area. Catch one or two, when you are around. The alley of bonsai trees brought from a small town near Tokyo leads to sea-life and freshwater aquariums with a shamelessly bulky table for tuna processing behind.
Turn right.
The sushi bar is already making instant rolls under large Fuji-lamps. Sergey Makhno personally designed them, contemplating that snow-white Japanese mountain. Instead of the ordinary lighting, there are chimneys in one tatami-room, and a plump copper flower in another. They can tell you about the sun hiding behind the roofs in the Japanese gardens.
For business negotiations, there is a separate room with wooden walls, floor, and ceiling — so that nobody overhears. And in a large banquet hall, under the poppy-heads of lamps, a table is threading across the room.
Now, turn left.
Under the bamboo chasen sprouts, soft-cream seats and chairs embosom the tables. Everything is made specifically for this restaurant. Next to them, the tempura and robata grill zones are located. In the tatami-room #3, the sky stretches out on the wall and the chairs, while ikebana tickle guests with flowers-branches.
The ceramic barrels of sake and a mob of the wine refrigerator prompt what will go farther. Farther, will be something winy — under a light graded cloth, in the arms of the travertine, the bar is ringing with glasses. Just in time, because the stone slabs on the wall begin to tell “One hundred poems of one hundred poets”.
Design: Sergey Makhno Architects
Photography: Andrey Avdeenko
