Miyake Restaurant

Miyake is a critically acclaimed sushi restaurant in Portland Maine that had reached national fame despite operating out of a tiny "hole in the wall" in the West End. he design seeks to create an island of serenity in Portland's busy Old Port - a quiet and serious space where the food is the focus of the attention. In the tradition of the sushi restaurant, the best seats in the house will be at the high bar, where diners can be personally served by the chefs at work in front of them. The restaurant sought to evoke the feeling of a calm vessel moving over water at winter sunset, with high backed deep red banquets sheltering the patrons and quietly back-lit custom textiles glowing at the top of the walls. A custom CNC-milled birch plywood ceiling evokes a forest canopy, concealing the messy reality of a low ceilinged commercial space from the diners. The traditional trappings of the restaurant were to be hidden from view, with no glass sushi case, visible wine bottles or stemware, and the only visible lighting a few glowing pendants over the bar. Photo by Jamie Solomon