Coup d’état

Food was the starting point when Tengbom crafted the interior for the new Persian restaurant Coup d’état in Östermalm, Stockholm. Just as classic saffron rice, lamb, and aubergine purée meet modern oysters with sorbet and an extensive cocktail list, the interior reflects the loving palace coup. Persian green meets neon and street art.

Learn Farsi in an unexpected setting

An intercontinental mix

Persian cuisine with French and Scandinavian influences is on the menu at Coup d’état — French for “state coup.” The nations referenced in the kitchen are echoed in Tengbom’s interior concept. This is a restaurant that aims to shake things up, even if the weapons on the walls have had flowers tucked into their barrels.

“To carry out a palace coup by elevating Persian cuisine was something I appreciated,” writes star restaurateur Erik Videgård, who developed the menu. “I want to evolve modern Persian cuisine into something new, something luxurious, something everyone can relate to.”

Creative (artistic) collaboration with Coup d’état

The restaurant spans two floors. A dinner club at street level, and in the basement, a bar and a cinema showing black-and-white Iranian films from before the revolution. In the restroom, a looped language course in Farsi plays, adding an unexpected layer to the experience.

“We created the interiors through a creative collaboration between us as architects and the restaurateurs. Two of whom are artists themselves,” says project lead architect and design director Katya Högberg from Tengbom. “We commissioned a graffiti artist with a strong identity, resulting in an interior that’s quite raw yet elegant.”

The space previously housed a Lebanese restaurant, which made it possible to reuse some of the existing chairs and tables. The team also rebuilt and repurposed the bars to suit the new concept. As a bonus, the kitchen and logistical functions were already in place, allowing the new operations to get off to a smooth start.

Among others, partners and artists involved in the project included Jacob Erixon, Ali S, and Arman Sultani.