For a growing number of restaurants, it’s no longer just Instagram posts or online reviews that signal a memorable experience – it’s the keepsakes diners take home
Click through any restaurant website, and you’ll spot the usual suspects: Menu, Reservations… but Shop? These days, top restaurants are adding a string to their bow, coming up with collections of branded swag as painstakingly honed as their menus. Once just a t-shirt or maybe a token keyring, restaurant merch has evolved into an art form, flaunting eye-catching designs, limited edition drops and collaborations with local makers. Think premium totes that capture a kitchen’s ethos, graphic-emblazoned hoodies and mugs that amount to a lifestyle statement. 50 Best explores the restaurants pushing the boundaries of branded gear, turning them into cult collectibles and memories of diners’ favourite haunts.
Behind the merch makers
At Cape Town’s La Colombe, ranked No.49 among The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, it was the restaurant’s crockery that sent merch sales soaring, when guests started asking servers how they could snag some for themselves. “Our crockery and cutlery are bespoke to us,” says executive chef James Gaag. “Nobody else has them, which adds an exclusivity to the offering. We try to create experiences that last a lifetime, so it’s been special to give guests the chance to take a physical bit of us back home with them.” Their best-seller? A porcelain tomato with a brass top, which is used for La Colombe’s smoked aubergine pâté starter. “Guests just seem to love it,” says Gaag.
La Colombe's porcelain and brass tomato dish
There’s also a brass cutlery block made from dove feathers – an homage to the restaurant’s name – and a ceramic beehive in a tribute to the region’s superlative honey. During the tasting menu, the beehive opens into four pieces, revealing coconut, pineapple and mango petit fours. La Colombe also sells sets of weighty, custom knives, designed by local craftsman Anton Kock. For a restaurant whose concept is largely pinned on ‘food as theatre’, its take-home table-toppers are like theatrical set pieces, designed to enliven every moment of the meal.
La Colombe has been developing its tableware with a small group of potters and metalworkers for a decade now. It’s a milestone that Dante NYC, formerly named The World’s Best Bar, is fast approaching, having first dipped its toes into the world of merch in 2015. As co-founder Linden Pride explains: “It started with us wearing our branded t-shirts – which read ‘Negronis like mama used to make’ – at various pop-ups. Soon, it was onto baseball caps.”
Dante's bottled cocktail kits, dished up with gourmet garnishes
Dante’s clientele wanted it all, and by the time Covid came along (and in part, thanks to it) the brand had expanded across the US, followed by collaborations with the likes of Yeti and Levi’s. Its bottled cocktail merch proved so popular that the brand launched an independent bottled cocktail company to keep up with demand.
“It amazes me that people post pictures of the Dante NYC baseball cap all over the world,” says Pride. “Regulars will come in and buy 10-plus caps at a time to share with their friends. I know one of them likes to wear it when out at other bars in NYC, as he’s sure he receives preferential treatment when he does!”
London’s Ikoyi, ranked No.35 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, had its own moment during the pandemic, launching a limited edition t-shirt, monochrome canvas tote and a self-cleaning water bottle in collaboration with Larq. “Lockdown definitely initiated things for us,” says Ikoyi chef Jeremy Chan. “The idea was, ‘Let’s make something nice for our guests, and hope they don’t forget us.’ Things just continued from there.”
Alongside co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale, Chan is heavily involved in the collection’s design, The brand’s heavy-cotton tee is bold and simple, listing the ingredients and recipe for its signature Purple Eye Pea and Buckwheat Miso Ice Cream on the back. “Ikoyi has such nice branding as it is, and we really liked the idea of having that live outside of the actual dining experience; I wear our bag all the time,” says Chan. What’s next? “I’d love to create some Ikoyi knives.”
Jeremy Chan's debut cookbook rolls through 80 recipes that illustrate his travels through Hong Kong, Canada, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe
The best of the rest
Five global eateries doling out hot-to-trot collectibles.
1. Lox in a box, Sydney
@ loxinabox
This beloved Aussie bagel spot sees staff don a retro uniform in a colour so recognisable, it’s known locally as ‘Lox Green’. The theme pleasingly runs through its merch collection, which is frequently present on the streets of Bondi. The current drop includes a green beanie, a baseball cap, a cup and saucer and the restaurant’s signature glass fish bottle.
2. Hisa Franko, Soča Valley
@hisafranko
Ranked No.48 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 list, Slovenia's only three-Michelin starred restaurant has a vast online shop (as well as a chic on-site boutique) in which fans can revel. Chef Ana Roš has a slew of collaborations on offer, including the Benedetti Life collection (a floral-inspired collection of hoodies, napkins, umbrellas and more in partnership with the eco-friendly fashion brand) and a ceramics range together with Ljubljana-based potters Kolektiv DVA. Plus, you’ll find many of the wines, potted honeys, oils and tea leaves served at the restaurant.
3. Bao, London
@bao_london
It might surprise you to learn that Bao’s brand’s logo of a bun-guzzling man was illustrated by co-founder Erchen Chang (who met husband and fellow Bao co-founder, Shing Tat Chung, at the Slade School of Fine Art in London). The illustration is now emblazoned on totes, tees and even baby grows, but there are candles, art prints, sauces and one-off Chinese zodiac-themed collectables, too
4. Censu, Hong Kong
@ censu_hk
Modern Japanese restaurant Censu has a revolving roster of aesthetic alliances. A pair of unpolished, sterling silver earrings in collaboration with local atelier xHM59x; a house t-shirt designed by Tokyo-based tattoo artist Megumu Kamata; and coasters from premium Japanese jeans specialists Washi, to name a few.
5. Tacos 1986, Los Angeles
@tacos1986la
This cult-favourite taqueria developed such a following that a merch collection was a no-brainer. Taco 1986’s staff wear the restaurant’s signature red tees – and you can wear them, too. They’ve also got beanies, sweaters and windbreakers on offer, so you can, almost, rep them head to foot. For your kitchen, snag a 6oz bottle of the signature 1986 Salsa Macha.
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