À côté Bistro

“Should we hide the kitchen?”
–“Yes, chef.”
We didn’t.

À côté rethinks the relationship between restaurant, kitchen and street. Conceived as a compact urban interior, the project places the kitchen at the facade, turning what is typically concealed into the main architectural feature. The threshold becomes performative: passersby encounter the heat of the kitchen before entering the space itself.

The intervention operates through a deliberate tension between industrial precision and domestic intimacy. Stainless steel surfaces, extraction systems and professional kitchen equipment remain fully exposed, while dark veeer, soft lighting and candle-lit reflections temper the atmosphere with warmth.

A large pivoting window opens the kitchen directly onto the street, dissolving the boundary between inside and outside and allowing the rhythm of service to become part of the public realm. The counter extends this gesture inward, guiding guests along a linear seating arrangement designed around proximity, observation and immediacy.

Materiality is reduced to a restrained palette of brushed steel, stained wood, mirrored surfaces and pale mineral flooring. Light is treated scenographically: concealed LED lines sharpen the working areas, while warmer ambient lighting produces a quieter, more intimate dining atmosphere deeper inside the space.

Within a minimal footprint, the project transforms efficiency into spatial experience. At À côté, the kitchen is no longer backstage infrastructure but the spatial and atmospheric core of the restaurant.

Project: À côté

Location: Calea Victoriei, Bucharest

Team: Anda Zota, Elena Viziteu, Liana Gavrilă

Finished: 2026