Header: Sergei Nekrasov
Safran is a fine-dining Indian restaurant at the Shangri-La Le Touessrok Resort & Spa, on the east coast of Mauritius, overlooking Hibiscus Bay. With interior design by Dubai studio The Odd Duck Design, with Asmaa Said as lead designer, the restaurant won the “Interior Design Restaurant – Fine Dining” category at the LIV Hospitality Design Awards 2025.
South Indian style, colonial touches
Safran serves several dishes of delicious upscale Indian food, so it needed a design fitting of the cuisine. Its design, therefore, is built around Indian craft, art and culture, pairing a South Indian style with British colonial touches. For Safran, that meant filling the room with pieces made using traditional Indian techniques, from the metalwork down to the printed floors and the joinery.
The Odd Duck Design is not a stranger to this delicate aesthetic, as the studio constantly spends time researching cultures, perspectives and reactions to aesthetics before creating the designs they are known for. For this reason, their work in restaurants, hotels and homes is known to be both beautiful and respectful.
An open kitchen and brass hoods
A beautifully crafted open kitchen with traditional tandoor ovens is the obvious spotlight of this restaurant. It is in this space that guests can watch the chefs prepare tandoori dishes and freshly baked naan, patiently awaiting the taste experience to come.
Above the ovens, the design team decided to hang three oversized brass hoods with an aged patina, custom-made with intricate Indian motifs to reference the talented metalsmiths of Rajasthan.
Craft in the materials
Much of the décor was inspired by traditional Indian jewellery, a reference that can be seen in the block-printed patterns on the flooring, which is laid in radial white wood and Pietra grey marble, and in the delicate saree fringes worked into the joinery. The furniture was made specially for the restaurant, and the lighting was carefully placed to pick out these details one by one.
Project information
Interior Design Company: The Odd Duck Design
Lead Designer: Asmaa Said
Design Team: Ellina Komarova
Architecture Company: JFA
Hospitality: Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Developer: SunLife
Construction Company: Gamma Construction Ltd
Location: Trou d’eau Douce, Mauritius
Date: 2024
