Chop House

Located at the former Villa Restaurant, the Chop House is a family-owned business serving locals and tourists. The brief was to create a space for diners to enjoy that was inspired by the food offering. We met with the client and chef to discuss their vision of the menu offering, style of food, as well as the various textures and colours on display. The timescale to deliver the project was extremely tight and from initial strip out, through to opening, the project was completed within eight weeks. The menu presented was simple and focused on providing quality food, with an emphasis on various chargrilled meats. Splashes of colour were introduced through side dishes, together with the table dressings. We needed to work with the confines of the building shape, which is deep and narrow, with the only sources of natural light being the windows at each end of the restaurant. We were able to exploit the atmosphere created by the natural light that penetrated the front and rear areas, which fades to artificial lighting only. We chose a pallet of materials that comprised poured epoxy resin flooring, with additional colours requiring multiple coats to achieve the vibrant colour and texture. The walls have been clad with timber that has been heavily charred at the bottom, gradually fading to a warm orange colour at high level, inspired by the various chargrilled dishes on offer. The ceilings to the rear of the building are relatively low for this type of establishment. As such, we decided to paint them black to draw the eye away from low areas and towards the splashes of colour and detailing introduced by the wall cladding, bar design, flooring and table sets. To the front of the building the ceiling height is more generous, allowing us to create a front of house entrance feature that comprises multiple light fittings, scattered at varying heights creating a warm and welcoming ‘shop window’. Additional texture and colour has been introduced by various fixtures and fittings which include two new bars, clad with copper and epoxy resin to complement the new flooring. The face of the bars have been clad with varying depths of reclaimed end grain timber blocks, charred in the same way as the walls, then illuminated to enhance its texture.