Sunday, August 26, 2012

Starbucks with a twist at Duddell Street

Not all Starbucks cafes are created equal.

On Duddell Street, Central stands a Starbucks that's one of a kind. Welcome to the world's first and only Starbucks Bing Sutt (冰室)!



A bing sutt (literally translated as ice chamber) is a kind of old-school Hong Kong diner from the 1960s. To celebrate Hong Kong culture, Starbucks engaged local lifestyle store G.O.D. to design the store to recreate the bing sutt experience. This became the very first Starbucks cafe in the world to have a radically different interior decor from the brand's signature look.

 


I love Starbucks and I love G.O.D. And I cannot but love this east-meets-west, traditional-meets-modern concept and how a well-known international brand cleverly localises itself like that. I think I could sit in this Starbucks for ages, just chilling my afternoons away.

It's a wonderful place to go trigger-happy too, and the cafe clearly welcomes the attention.


And while you're at it, make sure you also go outside Starbucks to take some pictures of the Duddell Street Steps and the four gas street lamps at the top and foot. The steps were built between 1875 and 1889, and the lamps are the only surviving gas-powered ones that are still working. Both are declared monuments in Hong Kong.

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