Tag: Industrial

The Hutong Cafe, Plymouth.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Food ( but this is not a food blog), Home Towns, Interior Design, Interior design inspirationLeave a comment

My dogs are urban dogs, they like a circular walk on tarmac with plenty of green space to run around on and a dog friendly cafe for a bit of a nap. I’ve been trying to recreate that for them in Plymouth. Today I struck gold for all of us.

We parked at Devils Point and had half an hour of fabulous sniffs and running about before descending the steps into the Royal William Yard to call in at Ocean Studios before taking the road back to Devils Point.

The Hutong Cafe just outside the grand gates of the Royal William Yard used to be a pub. Now it’s a stylish cafe serving great coffee.IMG_9451I’m not the main coffee addict at theoldmortuary.design but I do know a good cup of coffee when the bubbles on the crema reflect beautiful oily-looking copper colours on the  top of a simple black coffee. So there we go, top marks for the look of a black coffee, top marks for flavour. My piece of cake was great too , but as usual I’m really more about the style of the place.

Hutong has great style. Easy on the eye, industrial retro , done impeccably, which is not always  as simple as it looks.IMG_9452

Style is also about the ambience  of the place and Hutong gets it right. Dogs are welcome either outside or inside, nearer to the front of the cafe.IMG_9459George, one of the owners, was welcoming when we arrived and he and Owen the barista  were involved in conversations with everyone in the cafe at some point during my visit. Later I met Jack , George’s brother and co-owner, who is equally engaging. George and Jack have great plans for the future of this cafe and they were a pleasure to natter to. Chris the chef made a brief appearance to smile , completing what seems to be a winning team. A cafe this good is a great addition to the area and a fabulous place to take the most dedicated of coffee lovers.IMG_9457

#everydayinspiration Mido Cafe, Hong Kong

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home Towns2 Comments

IMG_8414On a recent visit to Hong Kong we visited the Mido Cafe on Temple Street, Hong Kong. There is a fabulous blog page about it already that I shared a few moments ago.

You will read how great this place is, but for me the thrill was in its windows. Beautiful 1950’s Crittall windows. Made in my birthplace of Braintree, Essex, UK. More importantly, for this everyday inspiration post, I was inspired to tell my children how their grandparents met when they both worked at Crittalls Factory in Braintree .Until this moment I had completely forgotten my family link with the factory and even forgotten why I love Crittalls windows quite so much.

 

Treasure #developingyoureye

On By theoldmortuary.designIn TravelsLeave a comment

IMG_8510I’m always intrigued by the unusual. Passing a building site in Hoi An , Vietnam , I found this metal basket full of old tea-shop crockery , the builders had clearly preserved the old China rather than just lob it in the skip. Still in a filthy condition the bits clearly represented “treasure” to the builders.

Mortuary gets a makeover

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Interior design inspirationLeave a comment

IMG_0424

https://www.superfit.uk.com

The Old Mortuary was converted from a single story Chapel of Repose, where people viewed their loved, or not, one, and a back work room, to a two-story extension attached to our existing cottage. The dimensions and style of the mortuary are slightly different to those of the cottage. We decided to maintain the utilitarian/industrial, albeit on a small scale, nature of the conversion. We wanted to replicate a concrete finish on the walls. This can be hideously expensive but our builders, Superfit, worked creatively to give us the finish we wanted in a more economic way. The result is beautiful and very hard wearing.

The full story of the conversion will be a whole other story, one day.