Avocado Sweets Design Studio has worked closely with Chit Chaat Chai founders, Tania Rahman and Dhruv Haria, to bring the energy, colour and innovation of their street-stall concept to the interior and branding of their exciting debut restaurant.
The innovation of Chit Chaat Chai recipes – centred on chaat, small flavoursome dishes served from street stalls in South Asia – is something Avocado Sweets were key to replicate in the look and feel of the two-floor South West London restaurant.
“Taking a concept from street-stall to restaurant needs a carefully thought-out transition,” explains Evros Agathou, creative director of Avocado Sweets. “The look has to convey the new permanence of the brand without losing the youthful energy of the pop-up scene.”
Three distinct zones cater to the informal lunch and dinner crowd in the front restaurant, with a vibrant tiled cocktail bar setting the scene for the intimate back area.
The upstairs dining room, available for party hire, boasts a striking graffiti art mural. Look down, and you’ll read all about life in India in the 19th Century on the bespoke flooring made up of copies of the Bombay Courier and Bengal Herald.
Up-cycled vintage Indian bucket lamp-shades maintain the street scene vibe, while vintage tin tile wallpaper adds a sense of depth and texture to the space. Even the toilets feature colourful bespoke Indian magazine articles across their walls.
The painted red peg-board cladding downstairs adds to the range of textures, while colourful hand-painted murals add a playful edge.
“Tania and Dhruv’s passion for the food was clear from the outset so it was a fun challenge for us to translate that into a winning logo and interior,” says Evros. “Just like the twists in the chaat recipes, we’ve kept an overall Indian feel and injected a unique mix of colour and innovation to create a visual feast to rival the food.”
