JJ ACUNA / BESPOKE STUDIO
Honbo Harbour City
Hong Kong

Honbo is well-loved for its no-frills approach to classic burger goodness. Sans the excessive trimmings and fillers, the specialty of the house highlights simplicity, natural cooking, and quality ingredients that capture traditional burger taste.

With its newest outlet in Hong Kong’s Harbour City, Honbo brings back the nostalgic details of the 1920’s roadside fast-food joints in the United States. Unlike the typical hamburger joints that features bold, bright colours, Honbo is characterised by clean lines and white space with distinct stainless-steel details. The natural light and flexible space are the perfect backdrop for the burger’s classic goodness, 

Honbo Harbour City is a significant follow-up of  its successful  second outlet located at The Mills, Hong Kong’s historical textile landmark. “The minimalist details and modern approach perfectly caters to the millennial Instagram-obsessed generation. We want to convey an airy but fun mood, with materials such as steel, glass, and white tiles, with a pop of colours such as Honbo’s signature blue and whites.”

The look is clean, contemporary, and family friendly, perfectly elevating the brand to the next level with its aesthetics and material application.  Honbo’s fun approach uniquely combines timber elements with ceramic tiles, and metal mesh topped with dominant white walls.  

Offering a unique dining experience with its steel and metal nook, or the shared table for big groups at the outdoor area, Honbo is truly a friendly, and approachable environment for guests of all ages to enjoy a delicious meal. 

SHARP INTERIORS - The project’s white and stainless steel finishes gives homage to the idea of creating a clean and safe place for fast food that is slick and sharp, yet with pop and style, elevating the brand to the next level with its aesthetics and material application. We studied the past architectures of pre-franchise fast food establishments like White Castle and White Tower in the early 20th Century.

HARBOUR CITY’S HISTORY - Harbour City has had a very long history as one of the main ports and gateways to Hong Kong’s Kowloon district over Victoria Harbour. This project’s architecture is a slight reference to Hong Kong’s ferry terminals and port stations of the past.

HONBO’S SPATIAL BRAND DNA - Honbo’s new spaces are meant to be clean, contemporary, scalable, and no fuss. It also needs to be fun, family friendly, chill, and have a good vibe and good energy.Materials include oak timbers, perforated metals in white, brushed stainless steel, blue tiles, grey terrazzos, cement, and Honbo blue and white paints. It’s no frills, easy, clean and a good foundation to have a great burger experience.

“It creates a  unique experience that makes people feel that they have arrived at a special moment, with the burger in hand,  of course”. The Honbo Harbour City store will be the signature look of all soon-to-open  Honbo restaurants worldwide.

Honbo Harbour City
Interior Design
JJ Acuna / Bespoke Studio
Design Team
James JJ Acuna, Alex Garcia, Dominic Cheung, Vivian Wu, Helena Sugito, Eric Marasigan, Alexis Abiog
Date of Completion
Spring Summer 2022
Area
759 sq.ft
Site Photography
Natalie Dunn Photography