Café Noir
Indiranagar
Location | Bengaluru, India
Client | VRO hospitality
Completed | 2022
Area | 2800 sq. ft.
Role | Interior Design
Category | Hospitality
Photographer | Ajay Devasia
High street restaurant for French Casual Dining
VRO hospitality - a fast growing chain of F&B outlets - acquired a well-known Bangalore brand, Café Noir, and wanted a fresh look for their new spaces. We created a high street restaurant that reflected a global style of French casual dining by using paneling and basic French tile patterns on the floor. Furniture was chosen to reflect an alfresco dining space. The focal point of the space was the large wine and dessert bar that we finished in a stained wood with a panelled front and ceiling, reflecting a French café.
The first thing we tackled was the layout. For all our Bangalore projects we aim to bring the outdoors inside, just because of the lovely weather. We worked toward creating an outdoor seating space which we planned toward the front of the floorplan, toward the road. Much like the French cafes we were excited to be able to ‘people-watch’ from the front balcony of the restaurant. The second thing we worked on was opening out a large solid wall that made the biggest section of the restaurant quite dingy. This brought in a whole lot of light and using planters we created a landscaped layer right outside the windows.
We then worked on a mood that reflected a modern French vibe, using paneling and basic French tile patterns on the floor. Furniture was chosen to reflect an alfresco dining space.
The façade was designed to create a transition from the street side to the outdoor balcony using arches, which would also become an identifying detail for the brand. A small flight of steps leads you up to a glass door entrance to the restaurant. The space is broken up into three parts, the heart of the restaurant is the dessert and wine bar, fashioned from veneer to mimic an old school French restaurant bar. In front of this is a group of wood and cane tables and chairs, with a panelled ceiling.
The verandah / balcony is the outdoor portion of the restaurant, this space has a patterned black tile and sits adjacent to the facade arches, surrounded by planters. The space is topped with a black and white printed fabric ceiling reminiscent of outdoor French cafes with striped awning covers.
