ANJIN is a 20 seat izakaya restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. Inspired by traditional Japanese izakaya “pubs” the concept of the restaurant was to create an intimate space with a face-to-face connection between the diners and staff centered on the food. The restaurant places an intense focus on the experience of eating, viewing, and conversation. The “table”, which is handcrafted from American Ash acts as this threshold.

Given the ambition of the restaurant experience the architecture is designed to heighten this relationship. Planned as a series of concentric rings, the kitchen ovens and cooktops form the center, followed by a ring of preparation space and further place setting stations, then by the three-sided dining table itself and chairs, and lastly wooden lattice screens and felt that wrap the outer wall to create a private internalized world. Three reflective “blades” hang above to give the small space a more expansive and animated character.