Food & Design Bert Archer dishes on the latest restaurant design
The building started as a 604-square-
metre, single-storey edifice that former Joe
Beef prep cook Max Meighen took over in
2017; it took two and a half years to transform
the former bean sprout manufacturing plant
into a two-storey brewery with a ground-floor
restaurant and large rooftop garden. Taking
its name from the Norwegian word for “crop,”
Avling was inspired by the ability of Nordic
chefs to create good, new food from good,
old ingredients. Chef Suzanne Barr (formerly
of Saturday Dinette) concocted its novel
spins on local cuisine (the kitchen is now
being overseen by Barr’s protégé Mohammed
Khodadadi). Highlights of the menu, which is
dotted with herbs and vegetables grown on
the roof, include an excellent turnip cake in
buttermilk ranch dressing.
Wei-Han Vivian Lee and James
Macgillivray of LAMAS designed the space
as a series of “fields in a farm,” with a central
ovoid zinc-top bar surrounded by tables
with high and low seating. A painted mural
with stretches of felt by Madison van Rijn
accentuates the bright and open ash-wood
space that’s anchored by structural steelAV L I N G
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beams painted pink. “Sometimes brew
pubs have a dark wood, brass aesthetic,”
Lee says, “and we wanted to do something
that felt light, to be used both day and
night.” The tanks are visible through a glass
wall, and the beer is available in cans at
an attached mini-storefront. The beer list
(by Brandon Judd of Godspeed and Indie
Ale House) comprises craft standards like
saisons and IPAs, but it’s the pilsner – with
its balance of grain, floral and spice – that’s
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