"How are you going to keep the riffraff out?” A full-on Yorkville Princess and soon-to-be Flow patron is asking co-owner Julian Gova about the patronage of the restaurant-lounge, in the space that was previously a Movenpick location. It’s a question he’s heard before, as this project, after all, is brought to us by the very people who brought us Centro.

Yet, as Gova would tell me later, “The Flow discipline is more about catering to anyone who genuinely want to be here. While Centro is more of the Forest Hill and out-of-town Lindsay Lohan crowds, Flow is aimed as the New Yorkville.”

Tony Longo, Gova with Chef Richard Andino (North 44) came about the Yorkville location by charting Movenpick’s downward trajectory from a fun and lively eatery to the bottom of hotel-cafe-ism. The reflection turned out to be a blessing for them - not only for liberating the sought-after space, but also to restudy the corporate perception of what a thirsty and hungry crowd purportedly wants here. This led to attention paid to prevent the same kind of dull Yorkville crapulence over again. (Though, in Movenpick’s defense, their livelihood continues, but under the more focused Marche brand.)

That study led to Flow. In its first week, a massive melting pot of A-listers has found their way here. Flow’s not easy to miss. With a vibrant LED projection that changes the colour of the exterior, giving the building a rich, pastel haze (sometimes blue, sometimes, red, sometimes...), giving life to the very corner where we all have bought an ice-cream cone at some point in our lives.