The Sultan Group awards design of two new restaurants in Kuwait to Thomas Klein International

The Sultan Group is expanding their unique brand offering by opening a new Prime & Toast restaurant in Quibla, as well as new Wasabi outlet on the Kuwaiti Corniche.

The newest Prime & Toast will be located in an existing restaurant location in Quibla, and TKI will be tasked with re-designing the outlet to match the existing concept.

Prime & Toast is known for the quality of the produce used in their large selection of sandwiches, salads, souffles, waffles and pancakes, and incorporates only the freshest ingredients and vegetables as well as the best prime USDA beef in their dishes. The main feature of the restaurant is therefore the vertical farming section which is representative of the freshness of the produce used, and the rest of the restaurant was designed around this unique and innovative concept.

"We have adapted the design slightly so that the vertical farming structure will be located directly adjacent to the window, allowing all the plants access to natural light," explains Daniel During, Principal and Managing Director of TKI.
"The location of the vertical farming structure also means that the plants will act as a natural curtain to soften the incoming light into the restaurant."

"Furthermore, the additional core elements of the design such as the communal table and the blackboard ribbon around the restaurant will be respected and incorporated into the new design too," added During.

The new Prime & Toast in Quibla is expected to open in the second quarter of 2012.

The Sultan Group have also announced that they will open a new Wasabi store on the Kuwaiti Corniche, in Point 5, which will offer diners uninterrupted sea views from its terraces.
The new design will be an adaptation of the Wasabi located in Layalina which is currently under construction.

"Currently the Sultan Group already has four other Wasabi outlets operating as part of their portfolio, but they wanted to launch a totally new, fresh image, therefore the two newest Wasabi stores will have a totally new look and feel," said During.

Once opened, the new Wasabi restaurants will set the benchmark in design for any additional Wasabi outlets opened, and all the existing Wasabi outlets will be transformed to match the new brand image and positioning.

The inspiration behind the interior design of the new Wasabi restaurants stems from the wasabi root, its cultivation and farming methods, along with the two most traditional and sophisticated Japanese arts of paper manipulation, namely Origami and Kirigami.

"The new location at Point 5 is much smaller than the Wasabi in Layalina, therefore we have adopted only one of the three 'origami fold' elements used in the previous design and developed it to suit the new location."

"In fact, we plan to do the same with all future smaller Wasabi outlets, by adapting one of the three unique folds used in the original design and applying it on the new site, so that each new location relates to the flagship store," concluded During.

Wasabi located in Point 5 on the Kuwaiti Corniche is currently under design and is expected it to open in the second quarter of 2012, simultaneously with the Wasabi in Layalina.

The Prime & Toast and Wasabi chain of restaurants is owned and managed by the Epicure Group, the food and beverage division of the Sultan Group.