Toke 'n' Poke

Restaurant, Bar and Commercial Kitchen, 140m2, Sydney, Australia

Toke ‘n’ Poke is a bar, restaurant and open commercial kitchen in Newtown, Sydney. Located in the urban context, we were inspired to create a contemporary, similar to a downtown Tokyo interior, with a masculine palette, minimalist architectural forms and materials.

The architectural concept derives from the clients passion for arcade games. We explored the materiality of brick work by using a charcoal coloured brick, as a metaphor to the classic arcade games.

The bricks stack to create screens, walls and furniture throughout the space. The introduction of recycled oregon timber elements adds a textured warmth  to this otherwise predominately colour-less space. Japanese glazed ceramics clad the bar front in the same neutral tone as the timber.

We adopted a minimalist approach to lighting, such as concealed LED strip lighting, track lighting to the exposed soffit, neon LED and brass pendants within the concrete shell

Photography: Anna White