Realized in a period when Chinese restaurants were on the losing end of the fashion trend due to their image as greasy spoons, we were approached with the challenge to design a modern restaurant dedicated to Shanghai cuisine. We decided to approach the design through hyperbole. The restaurant was intended as a nocturnal place, open for dinner and after-hours meals. Through the selection of a few objects that act as universal symbols of Chinese-ness, such as the lantern and the screen, and by multiplying their presence in the space beyond the practical, creating a field of lanterns and a maze of screens, we were able to produce an atmosphere at once recognizable but also strangely unfamiliar and disorienting. The added effect of mirrored walls and dampened black surfaces accentuate the presence of the objects. In the basement, enclosed booths divided by screens bring to mind an opium den bustling with secrets and intrigue.