La Bodega Negra

About La Bodega Negra

I recently visited La Bodega Negra which is a Mexican restaurant located in Soho, London. The inside is pretty much standard of what you expect tables, chairs and soft mood lights, but this is all hidden away behind the facade of a controversial sex shop.

The windows are filled with pink neon lights advertising peep shows and strip teases alongside a padlock heart and oversized plump lips. There is a retro feel to the shop front with the stencil font used but also from the advertisement of adult video. It entices you in with the word come lit up above the front door as nothing indicates its a restaurant instead of the sleazy place it claims to be.

I like the design of deception and how it almost makes the restaurant have a reverse speakeasy theme, but also relates back to Polly Nor and how people choose to be perceived online, pretending to be something there not. However, Las Bodega Negra does this in a slightly unusual way taking something that society looks down on and thinks should be hidden away and instead being loud about it therefore making a more exclusive venue.