Cafe named best designed in world

Knoll Ridge Cafe perched on Mt Ruapehu has been named the best designed cafe in the world. PHOTO/ SUPPLIED

A Mt Ruapehu cafe has been named as the best designed cafe in the world

Knoll Ridge Cafe has been announced as the best designed coffee house in the world, as determined by leading London-based design website Design Curial.

Perched dramatically on Mt Ruapehu in the North Island's Tongariro National Park both a commercial ski field and New Zealand's largest active volcano, the design beat off cafes as far afield as Tokyo and New York to be named in this global ranking.

Design Curial evaluated four thousand cafes before narrowing it down to the top ten. Cafes were ranked on design, innovation and the building's relationship with its surroundings.

Strong contenders were the Romeow Cat Bistro, Rome's feline-friendly cafe designed by Tommaso Guerra and home to six cats, and an Australian cafe in Victoria created from a former prison deemed Jury.

Japan featured twice on the list, one cafe featuring wall-length mirrors on its exterior aptly named Mirrors in Gifu, reflecting the famous Cherry Blossom trees opposite, while the other, Cafe Ki, Tokyo, embodies minimal aesthetics with interior tree-like structures.

Other top challengers were South Korea's Dreamy Camera Cafe mimicking a vintage Rolleiflex camera, Ukraine's The Cake featuring a giant pink, Jeff Koon's-style dog as the focal point and Salvaged Ring Cafe, Vietnam, which used salvaged wood in its creation.

"The aim was to recognise favoured locations of the general public for their daily brew on a worldwide level. Simply by drawing attention to these cafes, our aim is to put some destinations on the map for travellers across the globe," says Katherine Houston, Web Editor at Design Curial.

She went on, "A lot of painstaking research took place and the choice wasn't easy, however we believe we have chosen a successful set of striking cafes from around the world."

The Knoll Ridge Cafe was selected for its symbiotic relationship with the environment, implementing a brilliant architectural design to showcase its breathtaking surroundings.

The full list of top ten best designed cafes in the world chosen by Design Curial:
• Knoll Ridge Cafe, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand
• Mirrors, Gifu, Japan
• Romeow Cat Bistrot, Rome, Italy
• Jury Cafe, Victoria, Australia
• Dreamy Camera Cafe, South Korea
• The Cake, Kiev, Ukraine
• East Beach Cafe, West Sussex, UK
• Cafe Ki, Tokyo, Japan
• Salvaged Ring Cafe, Nha Trang city, Vietnam
• Topolski, Waterloo, London