Five of the best bar and restaurant interiors

When looking for somewhere good to eat and drink, it’s not just the food or alcohol on offer that has to grab us. The design of a bar and restaurant can alter the entire atmosphere to ensure all your senses are being delighted, not just your taste buds.

If you’re looking for somewhere cool to go on a Saturday night when you’re next on holiday, or simply want some inspiration for your own kitchen, then check out these five stunning bars and restaurants from around the world.

Le Loft Restaurant

On the 18th floor of the Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom, in the centre of Austria’s capital, is the beautiful Le Loft Restaurant. It is here you can enjoy some wonderful, award-winning gourmet food, as well as gaze at the best view in Vienna. We guarantee that your eyes may be distracted by this restaurant’s striking ceiling, which is reflected onto the wrap around windows. Bright oranges, blues and greens light up the room – it is truly a sight to behold and a gorgeous work of art.

Ozone bar and lounge

Located in the Ritz Carlton in Hong Kong, the Ozone bar is famously known as the highest bar in the world, as it’s 1,608ft above sea level. It takes about a minute in the lift to reach the 118th floor of the ICC Tower, but this bar is worth the heady ascent. Designed by Masamichi Katayama, the interior is supposed to represent a ‘manmade environment of nature in an imaginary world’.

The bar does make it appear as though you are inside a manmade beehive, as a honeycomb pattern adorns the ceiling and the floor. The beautiful white granite bar and neon lights make the Ozone a truly unique place. Don’t forget to head to the terrace for fantastic views of Hong Kong and a light and sound display every night at 8 pm.

H.R. Giger Museum Bar

If you’re ever in Gruyères, Switzerland, you have to make sure you visit the H.R. Giger Museum Bar. Although he was a surrealist sculptor and painter, H. R. Giger was arguably best known for his time spent as a set designer and his award-winning work on the film ‘Alien’. Not surprisingly, this bar makes you feel as if you are on that very set, or perhaps inside a giant fossilised creature.

Almost every aspect of this bar looks as if it’s made from a skeleton. You’ll spend most of your time gawping at the vertebrae arches on the ceiling, but don’t forget to admire the intricate tiles on the floor. A sci-fi fan’s dream, this bar manages to fuse rustic with futuristic – futurustic?

Joben Bistro

Steampunk is a style that’s taken off quite rapidly in the past few years, becoming extremely popular, and Joben Bistro is just one of the many bars capitalising on this trend. Exposed gears, copper pipes and quirky art hanging off the walls are all key features of this stylish bar, which spans three separate rooms, each with their own theme. An LED Zeppelin looms overhead, and the bar glows bright neon colours. If you were to enter a Jules Verne novel, it would probably look a little something like this.

Joben Bistro can be found in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Atrium Champagne Bar

Winner of the ‘Best Bar’ award at the 2013 UK and International Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, this Fosters and Partners creation is a thing of beauty. While many bars are spacious, this one in London is a nine-storey-tall pyramid made of white marble with a reflective black granite floor. The furnishings are minimal, making this room seem even larger.

However, it’s not just the sheer height of the bar which is impressive. Beautiful light shows are projected on the pyramid walls, from swimming jellyfish to triangular panels which are animated to look like origami. There are many cool bars and restaurants in the capital, but this has to be one of the best.

Clever lighting, stunning set pieces and white marble are all key features in these wonderfully quirky bars and restaurants. If you want to create a kitchen that’s eye-catching and totally different, then it’s always a good idea to look to the best for inspiration; these designers certainly knew what they were doing.