Even though pop-up restaurants are arguably passé, their transitory nature lends itself well to innovative concepts and daring design, as Durban, South Africa’s Mooki Noodle Bar outlined in a blog post on 10 great pop-up restaurants.
Leading the way? Canada!
Three of the ten featured pop-up restos were located here, dating back to 2009 — see? cutting edge! — with the balance shared by London, Paris, Brussels, Singapore and the U.S. (travelling restaurant, no fixed address).
Our contributions to temporary tastes:
Plastic Dining Room (Vancouver, BC)
In operation July through September 2010, this dining room was moored at Vancouver’s False Creek Yacht Club, where it floated on a raft made of nearly 1,700 two-litre plastic bottles. Catered by C Restaurant, the Plastic Dining Room served a sustainable seafood menu in an eco-friendly setting that included reclaimed pinewood interiors and recycled glass chandeliers. (For more, see Inhabitat.com’s Floating Dining Room Sets Sail on 1,672 Bottle Raft in Vancouver)
Müvbox (Montreal, QC)
Imagine a restaurant that you can take anywhere and have up-and-running in 15 minutes, with 40% of its energy needs supplied by the sun. That restaurant is Müvbox. Created by the owner of Montreal’s Pizzaiolle restaurant, Müvbox is “constructed from a standard 20-foot shipping container … retrofitted with a modern kitchen and seating for 28 people.” (For more, see Müvbox Fast Food Shipping Container Restaurant).
Taqueria La Carnita (Toronto, ON)
Those in the know describe opening a restaurant as a “16-hour-a-day crash course in business,” but aspiring restaurateur Andrew Richmond is undaunted. Despite his lack of formal training, his La Carnita “collective” has appeared at 15 events ranging from concerts to the Toronto Underground Food Market. (For more, see AVClub.com’s T.O. taqueria trailblazer Andrew Richmond).
Unlike pop-up restaurants themselves, it looks like this might be a trend with staying power.
Leave a comment