Behind a black glass facade on Vienna’s grand Landstrasser Hauptstrasse is Lingenhel, a restaurant, artisan cheese manufactory (käserei), shop for fine meats and provisions, and “gourmet meeting point” by culinarian Johannes Lingenhel. Designed by Austrian firm Destilat, the space preserves the historic building’s architecture and the belief that many things get better with age. Here’s a look inside.
Photography by Monica Nguyen, courtesy of Destilat.

Above: In the front shop, floating shelves on a black wall display fine olive oils and other goods. As a nod to the long ripening process of the cheese and meats that they sell, the building materials are meant to patina with age: “The counter will become more and more beautiful by being used daily,” Destilat says.
Above: Destilat’s display counters “evoke images of cubically stacked wooden beams, which were inspired by the beams of the historic roof truss” in the old Austrian building.

Above: A recessed black marble-clad niche allows drinkers and diners to fit their knees comfortably underneath the bar. Diamond-shape niches, inspired by the brand’s logo, ingeniously store bottles of wine. The black bar stools are Branca by Mattiazzi.

Above: In the restaurant, archways and vaulted ceilings, painted white, preserve the feeling of what used to be the building’s stables. The black spindle-back chairs are Patricia Urquiola’s Nub chair, ...