’Light oak, stainless steel and the colour
The phrase ’feeling blue’ looks likely to take on a whole new meaning in Edinburgh following the recent opening of the blue bar cafe above the Traverse Theatre on Cambridge Street. The brain child of Andrew Radford, the chef proprietor of The Atrium which is housed in the same building, blue aims to provide light, modern food in a design conscious environment. . . Radford worked closely with architect Andrea Faed, an Edinburgh College of Art . graduate, to achieve the striking visual impact of blue. Radford and Faed met when IV I the architect, then an undergraduate, was babysitting for Radford and his wife Lisa . who had iust bought a 19505 house. Faed came up with some ideas for modifications to the Radfords' house and while they have yet to be put into action, her plans so impressed Radford that he asked her to design blue. Her first public commission, blue bar café is a bold yet understated mix of clean lines, stainless steel and sweeping vistas. Big slabs of blue contrast with the light wood of the floor and fittings while sunlight floods the circular, seated drum area. The overall effect is spacious and “W, IA-» .u; ‘ uncluttered; what Radford terms a ’bright, clean, crisp image’. - i ' 7" ‘ .“ The enthusiasm which the design team put into blue extends easily to the premises staff. John Rutter, formerly one of The Atrium's second'chefs and one of Radford's long time kitchen cohorts, is moving up to be the head chef atblue and is relishing flexing
his creative muscles on the menu. 3 The end results speak for themselves: within two hours of opening on their very first day, blue served 60 covers at lunch; three days after opening, they were fully booked _-for the evening. The future is bright, the future is blue.
b/ue, Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, tel: 0131 221 l222. l Andrea Faed Architect, 37 Barony Str 1 ?" tel: 0131 556 5956.
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