When was the last time you ate dinner inside an art installation? Admittedly, Hong Kong may be lacking in the experiential dining department—we don’t quite have our own answer to Paul Pairet’s multi-sensorial Ultraviolet, Barcelona’s labyrinthine Enigma, or the post-apocalyptic, futuristic, culinary question mark of a restaurant known as LA's Vespertine—but we take what we can get.

The Wonder Room is The Peninsula Hong Kong’s version of an artpiece-turned-restaurant where calm, escapism and indulgence form the backbone of the experience; a place where you can leave behind, however briefly, the drudgeries of real life and be submerged into an alternate world. Created by Lu Zhi-gang, founder of the Shanghai-based design studios MINAX and MINAXDO, The Wonder Room is a masterpiece  brought to life by clever woodwork within a self-contained, box-shaped space.

Diners are invited to enter the room through a dim, curtained-off portal via the hotel’s commercial corridor. Once inside, you’re asked to switch your shoes for a pair of soft slippers, before being led into the heart of The Wonder Room, where varying lengths of cedar wood form the gentle, curved trajectory of an egg. A single wooden table is at the centre, just large enough to accommodate four diners. Lu envisioned the room as a quiet space for enjoyment and contemplation, far removed from the disruption and chaos of city life.