Client: Company of Cooks
Project: Chelsea Physic Garden Restaurant
Chelsea Physic Garden is a four-acre gem in the heart of London. The Garden was originally established in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries as an outdoor classroom to train its apprentices. Today the Garden’s plant collection is the only botanic garden collection focused entirely on medicinal, herbal and useful plants. Members and visitors can find over 4,500 species of edible, useful and medicinal plants that help to tell the story of humanity’s relationship with plants.
We collaborated with Company of Cooks on the refreshment of the café, which was looking tired and in need of modernising. This applied to the café itself and its kitchen and toilets. Our brief was to give the café a more contemporary, fresher, cleaner look; to give the bar/serving counter more presence; to modernise the kitchen and make it more efficient, and to refresh the toilets.
The main bar/counter was designed to have a more substantial presence and now includes a mirrored back bar for the display of wines, spirits, coffees and glasses. The counter, with tempting pastries and cakes, is illuminated by four coloured pendant lights.
The kitchen was reconfigured to make it more practical and easier to use. All of the kitchen equipment was upgraded, new extraction and filtration systems introduced, and a cold room - missing from the old kitchen - added.
In the café we introduced a soft natural colour scheme for the walls and white above new picture rails and the ceiling. The new colour scheme also extends to the new banquette seating, tables and chairs. The café’s old downlighters were replaced with a low-profile lighting tracking system. The walls are decorated with a set of framed botanical prints, chosen by the Garden’s team from its collection, and hung with planters. These planters are joined by plant pots displayed on tables and counters.
