Ideas for re-fit of Mon Petit Chou

[Otto]

eclectic my vote as well...eclectic in a really over the top way...

xo,otto

[20stonegnome]

Vegas/Modern style bar and grill offering high quality comfortable furnishings,decent fittings,decor, art and lighting,serving good steak and Italian cuisine.I don't want to see any garden furniture,organic Welsh sea grass soup or cheap paint jobs masquerading as shabby chic.

Make sure the bar and restaurant staff are well trained,friendly and know how to properly hustle for tips.

With the honourable exception of one curry house,the eateries in LL are mostly old fashioned, uncomfortable and poorly designed. I don't know what your budget is but good luck.

[wee quinnie]

Actually, I'd be perfectly happy if it remained untouched. But I am sure thats the last thing you want to hear, Ellie.

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Sad to hear about the alcohol licence, there's far too many blow ins and localish residents walking around LL loudly at night as it is and way too much vomit on the side streets, especially on the short cuts going up to Barry road.

Some woman was on Frogley Road simultaneously urinating and vomiting outside the bakers last weekend.

Why anyone feels the need to get drunk over the age of 21 is beyond me, it's just pathetic.

Time for the killer clown to do some late night patrols and go on a real killing spree like his brethren from Killer Clowns from Outer Space!

[Cassius]

Having an alcohol licence doesn't force people to drink excessively - it just gives people more choice.

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

I agree with you there, but given the effect all of the choice available on LL now has had, along with another (!) bar opening where the fruit machine/obvious front for wrongdoings used to be, it will just mean more vomit, drunken behaviour and annoyance.

[georgia]

Hoorah - another bar for us over-21 drunks

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Was that you outside the bakery then? I suppose booze is ok if you like waking up to this...

http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr314/Shu_Kurimu_Sensei/mike.jpg

[bigbadwolf]

You should make it one of your forum drinks venues Georgia. I'm sure you'll all have a good time rating and slating the place whilst you get shitfaced.

[Nero]

Steering this sharply back on topic, I'd say that the 'nouveau' MPC should be without its rather uncomfy chairs and tables, have good waitrers/waitresses who speak and understand English well, not play background music and provide well-made food at reasonable prices. Right now, I avoid it because it's just too narrow and ill-lain out - the food prep area takes up too much of the floorspace. Green and Blue's layout and furniture are good, so that might be a start.

[Gimme]

MPC needs to decide what it actually is... Is it a cafe, a greasy spoon or a restaurant.

At the moment it appears to be a cafe but has greasy spoon attributes (like the tacky laminated menus).

The tables are cheap looking and the decor is non-descript.

On the positive side, I like the 'kitchen in the middle of the room' aspect of MPC.

If there was room in the space available, banquette / booth style seating would be fab.

Not that this counts for market research but from what I've seen, most of the people who go in seem to be in groups of ones, twos and threes therefore maximising number of two seaters would be important. At the moment the part opposite the counter seems to be tables for four occupied mainly by two people with large newspapers...

Making the garden at the back would be a good idea. It feels like a back yard with pub beer garden furniture in it at the moment. A few plants might not go amiss.

[benjaminty]

I like the food there and mostly get brekkers take outs when a little hungover.

My main gripe on the place when I eat in is that the food is pretty good but then half the plate has a few tomatoes and some shoddy looking salad with a load of salad cream thrown on it. Completely devalues the food next to it..... if they are to revamp please please get more imaginitive for accompaniments.

Anyway - It needs to feel warmer for sure. Wooden floors and well lit. The ceiling is grim at the moment. I do love booths... now the Mag is no longer (don't anyone dare mention the "Mag") then I head to the Montpelier in hope of a comfortable booth. Might not be the best use of space though.

[thebeard]

benjaminty Wrote:

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> longer (don't anyone dare mention the "Mag") then

> I head to the Montpelier in hope of a comfortable

> booth. Might not be the best use of space though.

Yea nice booths with curtains like in the red light district in Paris.

Gettin upto some fun!!!!

Defo need the loud music then!

[Tru]

I agree with the slightly uncomfortable feel to the layout, I always choose Jacks (when open), which still has the seperate little rooms like the old blue mountain which I also loved far more back in the early 90s. Green and Blue has a nice variety of seating too or blue mountain for somewhere to chill only if I have a precious day off in the week.

Mon P'tit Chou always feels a bit pinched - the counter huge and seating squeezed in and cramped.

On the positive side - I quite like the slightly 50's window seats, my preferred location if I do nip in. Also I like the kitchy parisian prints on the laminate table tops - perhaps it could be re-vamped into a 1950's style soda bar? I love the stories on here by Wordy describing Heber Road etc. of the 1950s...nostalgia sells if you get it right

[Tru]

Ps - and i would definitely go in if there were booths - I love booths!!! espeically seedy Parisian ones :-$

[dungdag]

Thanks very much for all your thoughts - I agree with most of them!

At the moment we're very much at the ideas stage still which is why I was after opinions from the people who are most likely to use the place before we decide on a scheme. We've certainly been looking at comfort, wood and Farrow and Ball options as well as some wacky ones for the garden area you'll be pleased to hear but you'll have to wait and see...

I wouldn't worry about drunken behaviour etc. - the alcohol licence is only til 10.30pm at present so you'd have to work quickly! (That's not a challenge btw).

Ellie

[cate]

Black Cherry wasn't allowed to expand into their garden due to objections from neighbours. Are you sure MPC will be allowed to?

[first mate]

Cate,

Now I think about it the old Grace and Favour, when it sold food, was simply the best. It was a quirky but really restful space with great homemade cakes and grub....that is until it became the free ED creche.

[reetpetite]

Shu.Kurimu.Sensei Wrote:

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> Was that you outside the bakery then? I suppose

> booze is ok if you like waking up to this...

>

> http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr314/Shu_Kurim

> u_Sensei/mike.jpg

ugh just seen that gross picture. Put me right off my lunch!

[cate]

Yes First Mate, I loved that place. The woman who used to cook, Fi, there now works at Jack's. She has been ill recently so hope she is better soon.

So when did cafes start becoming creches - does anyone know? Don't people meet at each others houses anymore?

[sophiesofa]

i really like places that have a couple of bookshelves (with books on obviously). Gives a welcoming feel. Different lighting for night and day might work. I haven't moved to east dulwich yet (in progress) so I have no idea where you're talking about so my ideas may well be ridiculous. Comfortable tables and chairs are a must though unless they're going for a fast turn-around a la mac donalds of past. Good luck.

[steveo]

That's funny, I thought I was Dulwich Design

Dulwich Design

[Jah Lush]

And you are dear boy you are.

"There may be trouble ahead.."

[Domitianus]

dulwichmum Wrote:

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> It looks OK from the outside, but the colours are

> very cold inside and if I remember rightly, there

> is a platform or step and fence in the middle of

> the shop - this and the tiled or lino floor always

> puts me off. I don't know why, but I imagine it

> feels a bit like being inside a mobile home (I

> myself have never ever set foot inside a

> caravan).

>

> They should go for a more upmarket/artesan rustic

> look from the outside, perhaps some nice off white

> shade from Farrow and Ball, a wooden floor, much

> more comfortable seats and bigger tables.

I am shocked that DM does not rfer to the "platform, step and fence" (sounds like a railway station) by the correct term "mezzanine".

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

She's probably confusing it with her haha.