Everything still good as we roll ahead towards opening day, whenever that turns out to be … as I write, the whole main floor has been finished but we don’t have any pictures of that yet, as we had to stay outside the building while it dried. Plus brand new air conditioning and a roof are both set for this week (big jobs belonging to the property owner not us, thankfully), which will be brilliant.

Meanwhile, pictures:

A sink on a unit thing.

I know what you’re thinking. Pink, right? Yes you’re right, it’s pink. We had this enormous bucket of pink from the Lowe’s reject paint area, and it needed using up.

By remarkable coincidence, the sink came from another reject area, the IKEA as-is room. We do like a good bargain! Good thing too, or there is no way we could do all this and still be, like, living indoors with food for ourselves etc.

Behind the counter: new floor, sink on the wall (a very pseudo-religious special hand-washing sink of course, as required), proper electrical outlets.

This picture is proof that we are not just subjecting our customers to The Pink: we are following through on our values, and looking at it ourselves too, from the inside of the kitchen/serving area. Oh yes.

More pink shelves. To be honest, we would rather have left them with the original garage wood-chip look, but regulations state that everything made of wood has to be painted. So we painted.

Pink.

New floor, lovely and flat. Not everyone knows this, but not all floors actually are flat. For instance, my old house in England had sloping floors upstairs, as there weren’t as many building standards officers in the eighteenth century and the yokel builders who made it were probably drunk on local ale at the time.

And the original floor of 2000 Southern Oaks, our cafe location, was actually modelled on the surface of the moon, complete with mountain ranges and dry riverbeds (not so dry when the original roof leaked). This seems to have worked out fine for the previous tennants. Or maybe not, as they are now “previous”. But anyway, we thought people might fall off precipices and break their legs, so decided to go for the traditional “flat” look instead.

A lovely wooden bar top.

Bathroom sink. This has to be regulation too. Luckily it’s perfectly OK. But the hand-made concrete one with embedded gold glitter that we found at Habitat for Humanity was tragically disallowed. Hoping it might come in useful in the back yard some time, whenever we get round to making the back yard safe for humans.

We did have some other pictures of new bathroom equipment, but it seems like a bad idea to post them here on a food blog. You don’t want to click the wrong page in the middle of a lovely recipe and suddenly find yourself staring at a big photo of a urinal, really. That’s the sort of thing no woman should ever have to witness, and even the strongest male stomach might find off-putting in the middle of contemplating lunch. Please forget we even mentioned the U-word.

Anyway, if you see us in the IKEA as-is this week, do say hello. We’re popping up there to hunt for a few more lampshades to match the ones we got in the as-is previously (which are… pink). Yes Round Rock is a long way from South Austin, but we have a clever method of dealing with that: rather than thinking of it as a very long way to go for a few bargains, we think of a trip to IKEA as a Very Short Visit to Europe instead.

Our dream is that one day, scientists will finally get bored with inventing ever more slightly different kinds of touch-sensitive minicomputer, and return to inventing proper, futuristic sci-fi stuff again. And it will be possible to cross the planet by instant transporter, like on Star Trek. And there will be a portal at the front door of every IKEA in every country in the world- in this way, it will be possible to walk out of your local branch and into any country you like, without the suffering or expense of international airline travel! While inside, of course, you won’t know where you are, as all IKEAs are exactly the same, with everyone enjoying the same Swedish meatballs and Chocolate Overload cake wherever you go! Except on Rib Wednesday, which is Dumpling Soup Wednesday in Poland, Goulash Wednesday in Hungary and Curry Wednesday in England. So, stick to travelling on Wednesdays and you won’t get lost!

Hmm, perhaps the long wait for opening day is affecting our brains, just a little bit…

We’re getting there! This week we achieved a new roof on the storage shed, and a new freezer to go inside (that’s the new hot water boiler next to it)…

… new lighting fixtures, like these in the corridor between the cafe area and the back door…

… exit signs …

… electrical outlets…

… and grout. You can just see it in the corner of the bathroom here. Also, blackboard paint on the inside of the door, for people who suddenly get poems popping into their head while… washing their hands.

And that’s it for now. All good. We’re still not making any ETAs- we gave them up after the first six months- but there’s really not much left to do compared to everything we did already. So, it should only be another tra-la-la! weeks.

By the way, have you tried making the fig souffle yet? Because you should, it’s TRULY fantastic and Texas figs won’t be ripe forever, you know…

Good progress this week with the cafe renovation! No more floods, earthquakes, bolts of lightning or anything like that, plus everyone on the team managed to hang onto all of their limbs and sensory organs etc. Not only that, but we got a bunch of stuff done! Most importantly, the official anti-fire gadgedtry is now installed, which means we are protected against anything spontaneously combusting in the kitchen. And here’s some other stuff:

Canvas ceiling and insulating materials going up- this will look nicer than the underside of the old roof, and save a lot of energy in heating and air-conditioning. Plus we prefer it to polystyrene tiles.

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Well, it hasn’t been the greatest of weeks with our cafe renovation. The bad news was, dramatic indoor rain due to roofing issues. The good news is, these are now finally scheduled for full and proper sorting out, which is a big relief (the roof being out of our control, due to the terms of our lease), and in the meantime we finally have temporary repairs that are keeping out the rain.

So, no pretty pictures from the interior of the cafe today, because most of the week it looked like this:

picture attribution

Well, it looked like this in our fevered imaginations and nightmares, anyway

And then, as if flooding was not enough disaster, our head contractor guy Chris sustained a horrific work injury requiring urgent medical attention: Chris was cutting floor tiles when a giant splinter of rock-hard porcelain flew up into the air then embedded itself right in his eyeball!

WE KNOW!!!! EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Anyway, that was a few days ago and you will be glad to hear that Chris’ eye is somewhat recovered now. Or at least, he has been given special anaesthetic retina-numbing eye-drops to reduce some of the agony.

Get completely better soon, Chris!

So, hopefully next week’s report will be more positive and successful. Meanwhile, let’s all remember to follow the example of this fellow….

photo attribution

…. and heed the moral of this week’s story: REMEMBER TO WEAR YOUR GOGGLES!

photo attribution

We’ll be posting cafe updates here weekly now, as things move forward. For more frequent news & views, follow our facebook page. Thanks!

Hello again! We are still working away at the cafe renovation, and although it has taken much longer than originally expected (more on that in another post), everything is stil going really well, it’s just not very fascinating stuff to write home about. However, here is a recent batch of photos from inside the cafe, in case you’re not already overwhelmed with letters from other, more interesting, friends and family members

They’re not exactly super-exciting photos, mostly because you’re still looking at what is basically an empty building. This is because the work that took so long was building work inside the walls, under the floor, underground and on the roof, (and on the phone to City Hall, and in waiting rooms and offices down at City Hall), most of which you can’t exactly… see. Things will get a lot more exciting, and much prettier, when the floor is finished, meaning things can go on top of it. And this should happen fairly soon as the weather is a bit less wet now. Apparently, it’s really hard to set concrete in 100% humidity…

(100% humidity is one of those amusing expressions we have in Austin, Texas- it sounds as if the air is actually completely water, and we are all swimming round will gills under the hot, tropical sea. Yet actually… yes, that really is exactly what it feels like. Austinites, you know.)

So, when the floor is done, we can get stuff inside, which is actually a very quick job compared to the other work so far. We’ll post more pictures when that happens soon. Meanwhile, here are a few things that are already visible to the human eye:

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We will be starting a new stall, at the Wednesday evening Austin Farmer’s Market at the Triangle park, at 46th and Lamar (google map here), 4pm to 8pm weekly.

The Triangle market has a great atmosphere, it’s a lovely place to hang out on a weekday evening, very human-being friendly. The evening is when you can get outside and actually enjoy summer weather without getting burnt to a crisp, and the market makes a nice change from the eternal hunt for eating/drinking places with pleasant outdoor areas, plus of course you can be as quick or slow as you want, and spend whatever you want.  It’s also just a super handy after-work place to pick up your weeknight dinner- you can grab something to enjoy right there, or stock up on a  fantastic local ingredients to create delish dinners etc at home. We’ll be bringing both hot food and pies you can take home and put in the oven to eat whenever.

So, don’t stay indoors and watch terrible summer telly this Wednesday evening- get out of the house and enjoy open-air Austin! See you Wednesday

* same menu as at the Saturday SVFM market:
Cornish pasties, lamb pasties and cheese & onion pasties; Shepherd’s pies:
flapjacks, rock buns, millionaire’s shortbread and wholegrain shortbread

(our favourite British roundabout- it’s magical, of course)

Hello to Austin Chronicle readers

The lovely Richard Whittaker wrote this great article in this week’s Austin Chronicle about the bijou clutch of Brit food places operating in Austin right now, and we’re very excited that he features a chat with Shad about Full English and what we do:

“Our tag line is ‘British food, South Austin attitude,” Smith said. “South Austin attitude is about tolerance, and British culture is about the four nations of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales coming together. So we’re all about different kinds of people getting along and being creative about their differences.”

Even as I write, Britain is enjoying a wonderful new opportunity to get together and be creative about their differences while their political parties attempt to form a brand new coalition government! This is something that hasn’t really been needed since abut WWII (when it was obvious what side everyone was on anyway) so hopefully it will bring about all sorts of newer more civilised listening and learning teachniques and great improvements for world peace everywhere! Yeah, right. Well, we shall see

Seriously though, British food is about ideas plundered from all over the world being thrown together and enjoyed, and so is British identity and culture, so we stand by Shad’s statement in our goal of remaking our favourite British food, in our own way. Like Richard’s article says:

So what about the cliché of tasteless British catering? “Every nation has their boring, bland, unhealthy food,” Smith said. “What we say is that we’ve got the best of British.” The truth is, the best of British isn’t an oxymoron. Sometimes it may be borrowed from other cultures, and sometimes it may be hidden under an Irish name or sold under an Australian sign, and sometimes what’s available in Austin may be a good approximation, made with the closest possible ingredients.

So, for instance, when it comes to bacon, we’re probably going to end up approximating, for the sake of staying local. On the other hand, our locally-reared pigs may well taste better to you than the Danish bacon served up in many a GB “greasy spoon”. With flapjack, we just experimented a lot and went totally untraditional: crunchy, toffee-like, buttery, with not much chewy in the oats- because we love them like that. And I will absolutely state that our Cornish pasties with hand-made short pastry and long-stewed beef filling tastes very little like the pasties you get in the Cornish Pastie chain on Oxford Street. But they do taste like real unprocessed homestyle food. Which they are. And we are extremely cool with that.

So as my Dad always used to say, “It’s swings and roundabouts”. Which means, no need to pin everything down as “correct” or “wrong”, as our critics inevitably sometimes do, because it’s all about having fun on the ride, taking in a nice big view, and ultimately following your own nose. And tastebuds. And values. Discovering and saving and following everything you really, really love, and then making it all work together.

We think that’s what South Austin attitude and the best British values have in common. Good things, different opinions about  what they are, and openness to sharing them.

You can follow us on our facebook page for most recent news (plus other stuff), or go to the farmer’s market in Sunset Valley (3200 Jones Road at the Toney Burger Center) and say hi to Shad. Just look for the British flag…

Well, the cafe still hasn’t opened yet, as the City of Austin inspections and permits process continues to drag on and on with impressive thoroughness, but we are keeping very busy with a million things that need to be ready whenever opening day arrives, and here are just a few:

Bacon tasting! You can buy British-style bacon and sausages in the United States, but we prefer to keep things as local as possible rather than flying in meat products from across America. We’ll be having our own sausages made in Austin, and the Kocurek Family Artisanal Charcuterie was pleased to make and supply us with British-style back bacon. Here’s some wikipedia on British and American bacon styles. The cut used for back bacon is leaner than your usual belly/streaky bacon, and ours has a nice old-fashioned seasoning, but we’ll be doing the crispy stuff too, for balance and, well, crispiness.

Sign painting! In some ways it’s a good thing we’re not opening for a few more weeks, because that is exactly how long this will probably take us to finish. It’s really tricky, exacting work that gives you a whole new respect for professional sign painters and their fees. But well within our capabilities, and we needed the money for ovens etc.

Upstyling sofas! We always head for the comfy sofa in any cafe, but sofas cost hundreds of dollars, so we looked around for old vintage ones instead. The 70s brown flowers on this Ethan Allen sofa really appealed to our visual tastebuds, but it had quite a bit of raggediness on the sides especially, so we’re covering those with a plain neutral fabric. Which also tones down the impact of the brown flowers a little bit. Which is good, because with 70s brown flowers, less is more. They can make your eyes go funny if you stare at them for too long.

Coffee testing! We’re technically a cafe-restaurant not a specialist coffee shop, so we’ve been checking out how to make really good coffee as simply as possible. One option we’re looking into is cold-brewing for hot drinks (iced coffee is often cold-brewed already). We’re also tasting local coffee beans. Do let us know your tips and favourites on this subject.

T-shirt designs! These are in an unfinished state, our name isn’t on them yet, but we love the black-and-white flag- it reminds us of a vintage picture from the days before colour TV or newspapers. We’re currently arguing about whether our logo should be black or some other colour, so perhaps the result will be a rainbow of choices… mind you, we would wear this shirt completely logo-free. It looks cool, the only problem is it won’t make a very effective Full English company t-shirt if nobody can tell from looking at it who on earth we are. On the other hand, you could always just tell people who we are, when wearing the shirt. Anyway, we’ll print up a few variations and get your feedback on them later.

Photo printing! Here are some Welsh mountain sheep. They don’t have much to do with our business specifically, as our shepherd’s pie is made from Texan sheep. But we have been digging out a few of our favourite holiday snaps from picturesque parts of the UK, in order to frame and hang them on the cafe walls for a bit of decoration. These particular sheep are not in the first batch of photos, but we still like them. There is something very relaxing about sheep, they live a simple life and never seem to get upset. Sheep just keep calm and carry on, they are good role models in that respect. Go sheep!

We are following your example

Here is a lovely picture of a river in Glencoe, Scotland, taken by Mabel, who went there on holiday last year.

And here is a New York Times blog post by Bruce Buschel, with the lovely title How to Succeed in Business Without Knowing Very Much. It says things like:

Over my head? You bet. Like scuba diving 20,000 leagues under the sea with no certification and a leaky tank. This is how I get to visit exotic reefs, how I make every breath meaningful, every passing fish a wonder. This is how a restaurant will come to exist in a space where no restaurant existed before. This is just my own private process.

We find this both admirable and inspiring. And fairly terrifying. (more…)

So, the good news is, we have… pink!

There is a lot of prejudice against pink, which is known for its Hello Kitty excesses, but this pink is a lovely, fresh, neutral, refreshing sort of shade, similar to my arms.

Also we actually found this paint over a year ago, a whole gallon of it, in Lowe’s paint-gone-wrong discount area, so using it saved us quite a few dollars. Although, it had to be taken back to the store to be remixed in their special machine, as it had completely separated into water on top and a congealed solid lump on the bottom. But they kindly remixed our pink paint, and it worked out fine as you see.

We do love finding things that are neglected, mis-tinted or generally unwanted, and then upcycling/ renovating/ restoring/ completely rebuilding from the inside out. That’s why it is taking us so long to get our doors open, as explained in the previous cafe post- the building is being totally renovated.
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