WERE YOU BORN IN A TENT

Friday 28 February 2014

BROTHER ALEC

719 High St, Thornbury

Visited: 2nd February 2014

Design: When you start covering things in chrome they look sexy. Whoever came up with the idea of covering all the window panels and the panels of a very standard door with chrome, brilliant!!! I take my hat off to you. The panels alongside the black tiles, stenciled numbering and cafe name works amazingly well. The contrast between the different materials is surprisingly good. It's like taking a horse and carriage, covering it chrome and all of a sudden these cowboys have just stepped out of Battlestar Galatica, (not the new one). It's clean, (even though it's a little beaten around) it's slick and it catches the eye. Even though the job is a little rough it almost gives references to Art Deco. The beautiful old chrome handle helps this and is a delight in the hand with its thin grip. The bold stenciled lettering is so nice. The light gray, pastel yellow and dark brown hexagon tiles work well against the cement and the light gray welcome mat with a cursive HELLO to greet you. I absolutely love the rusted vintage chain OPEN/CLOSE sign in various fonts that gives a little jingle as you open the door. The door has a squeak that feels like a favourite old corner store door, so nice to the ears. Simple trading hours keeping in the theme of stencil done on brown paper. You can't get better. The door is clean and uncluttered with a central positioning of signage. Even the Good Food guide stickers which I normally hate aren't noticeable and are pushed off to the side with some new arrival baby photos and the menu. The door had a nice slow return. There was a slight warp in the door, I guess from over the years of being exposed to the weather, so there was a slight gap. I'm not sure what that would be like with a draft in winter, but minor issue. The diagonal window and the triangle panel pillar next to the door added just another level of unique goodness.

Door resistance: 2

Closure mechanism: Hydraulic arm

Draft: Medium

Squeak level: 3

Change return time: 48 sec

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PROFESSIONAL DOOR REVIEWER

Searching the world for the perfect door to eat behind.

First impressions are always important, especially for a restaurant or cafe. So many people are focusing on the food these days that I felt there was a hole in the reviews world. No one was looking at the most important thing, THE DOOR! Everyone complains when it is left open, death stares are exchange when the unsuspecting group of friends having a fun night enter the premises from the cold only to walk straight in and go straight to their table totally oblivious they have left the door wide open to allow an arctic strength gale force wind to cut through the previously warm interior. Like a scene from a western film where everyone in the premises stops what they are doing and cuts down the new comers with a deathly stare. Occasionally you will get the confident diner who gets up, walks across the restaurant and closes the door with a BANG! Just to let the new comers know they have done wrong and to NEVER, EVER DO IT AGAIN!!!!! This individual makes their way back to the table staring at the newcomers, just to make sure they got the message. The only problem is, is that 5 minutes later another group come in and do the same thing and he/she feels obliged to continually do this for the rest of the night.

Well hopefully this blog puts a light on the owners of these establishments and encourages them to lift their game and create doors that allow diners to sit and enjoy their meal, to give the diner an experience before they enter the building. It is also a thank you to the makers of quality doors who care about craftsmanship.

I have developed a scoring system based on,

DESIGN:

This is assessed by the materials the door is made from, whether the door is themed, cluttered or minimal and whether there is an element of surprise or not.

DOOR RESISTANCE: 1 to 5

1 = light push

5 = heavy push

CLOSURE MECHANISM: Manual, automatic or

hydraulic arm

DRAFT: Minimal, medium or high

SQUEAK LEVEL: 0 up to 5

0 = No squeak

5 = Ear piercing

Then the last assessment is the,

CHANGE RETURN TIME:

This is the amount of time it takes to get my change once I have given the waiter the money for the bill. Last impressions are always just as important as first.