“Amber-Infused Kohaku” in Tainan: Boldly Bridging Sound and Space, Defying Bar Stereotypes.

When it comes to the most powerful bars in Tainan, I can’t recommend them all for three days and three nights; among them, “Bar Lonely in the Cage” in the West Central District of Tainan City is believed to be famous even if you haven’t been there. Famous shop. But what I want to talk about today is not the Bar Lonely in the cage, but the brand new space “Kohaku” created by its manager Zhisheng at the end of 2022. Also located in the West Central District of Tainan City, “Kohaku” at No. 39 Xinmei Street breaks everyone’s imagination of traditional bars in terms of space, brand ideas, and bartending design. I think it is a must-visit experience in 2023 Space!

“Kohaku” will start trial operation on October 12, 2022 and officially open on November 2. For Zhisheng, the manager, even though he already has very solid bar management experience, “Xianghu” is a new beginning, a completely different new thing, and a new challenge, whether it is for brand management or The presentation of the wine body, the presentation of the product, and the targeting of the customer group are also good; Zhisheng believes that “good wine” is the most basic passing standard for opening a bar, so in addition to making delicious wine, “brand management” is The next step is more important and more challenging. Zhisheng hoped that “Xianghu” would be a culmination of his experience in opening a store. Whether it is the accumulated knowledge or the sensory experience, he wanted to make a bar of a type or presentation that he knew did not exist so far. There is production of this shop!

Let’s start with the name of the store “Kohaku”. “Kohaku” is actually “こはく”, which means “Amber” in Japanese, and it also corresponds to the Chinese word “蜓” in the name of the store; so once you enter Xianghu, the visual design of the store is as large as the presentation of the interior decoration. , as small as a water glass, they are all matched with amber. This echoes the brand concept that Xianghu wants to emphasize, “simple but with a strong focus”, so that consumers can clearly experience what Xianghu wants to express, whether it is in bartending or space .

Then there is “sound”, which means thinking from “sound” and “sound”, hoping to integrate sound as the theme and become the main axis of the entire consumption experience. First of all, in terms of space, the transparency of amber is used to extend the space with translucent dyed silk cloth, gradient colors and brown glass, which not only presents the traditional Japanese image, but also presents the sound field more completely, allowing the sound to be heard in the space. Presents well conveyed. In the design of the trademark, “Xiang” also concretizes the “sound” and sets the amber as a virtual surface, allowing the sound and amber to penetrate and overlap the virtual and the real.

Zhisheng hopes that the brand “Xianghu” will give people an image of “elegance” and “simpleness”, which combines the traditional Japanese sense of simplicity and modern elements. Intertwined feeling. Xianghu’s bartending can see the shadow of classic bartending, but it uses modern words, modern technology, concepts, or different thinking to interpret classic bartending, and at the same time convey the brand-new ideas that Xianghu wants to provide .

The design of Xianghu’s wine list takes “nature” as the central idea, and then derives four major themes “tea no sound”, “flower no sound”, “soil no sound” and “forest no sound”, which correspond to the tone There are four common tones of “tea”, “floral”, “coffee” and “herbal” in wine, and three glasses of mixed wine are released for each tonality. Among them, the highly recommended wines are: “Asahi Chrysanthemum” from “Hana no Hibiki”, which is made of gin, chamomile, passion fruit, honey, cucumber, Australian hunter herbal wine, kumquat, pepper white wine foam, and the wine has a moderate taste , Moderately sweet and sour, no matter the level, interest, and smoothness of the mouth are very good. The “unburned” of “Cha の Hibiki” means “incomplete combustion” as the name suggests. With Tieguanyin as the main axis of the whole flavor, bourbon whiskey, Italian herbal wine, nuts, berries and other elements are added, sour Moderately sweet and full-bodied. And “Tuyaori no Lovers” of “Tu の Hibiki”, inspired by the classic “Espresso Martini” and re-adapted. Although the structure is very simple, the flavor and drinkability are very good.

There are also some ingenious ideas about the menu design of Xianghu that are worthy of attention. Echoing the theme of “sound”, Xianghu specially designed the menu of the four major themes into four different records, and combined them into a complete album. Not only that, but there are also some small surprises in this set of album menus that you can only experience if you go to the venue to buy them in person.

Finally, let’s talk about the concept of “Xianghu” breaking through the framework. First of all, on the store name, many bars will add the word “Bar” before or after the store name to emphasize that they are a bar; but Xianghu specifically abandoned this unwritten rule, even in the store design. , The bar counter also removes the standard “wine wall” of the bar. In addition to emphasizing the elimination of everyone’s established impression and frame of the bar, Xianghu also hopes that by doing so, it will be easier to integrate the different elements and fields they want to do.

Zhisheng mentioned that he hopes that Xianghu can not only be limited to wine, but also extend various themed activities from the theme of “sound”, which may be combined with the music industry, whether it is a concert, a concert, or something related to sound. Any field; or not necessarily sound, any interesting things can be combined with this space. Zhisheng hopes that Xianghu can make different combinations with people in different fields, create different sparks, produce different and novel experiences, become a different bar, and present different things to consumers and our hearts!

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