Pale Blue Door

Tony Hornecker's home is filled with strange decorations, found objects and art. The upper level is miniaturised, like some Carrollian dolls house. For a short few weeks, the artist is welcoming the public in and cooking them dinner, under the name of Pale Blue Door.

Tony lives in a converted studio warehouse behind a peeling Pale Blue Door on a narrow pedestrian alleyway well beyond the reaches of Google Streetview. Through the titular 'door' we step into his dining room, the walls covered with collections of violin parts, pig heads and candelabras - decorations only modified slightly for the occasion the artist tells us. Most of the time the space is used for fashion set design; he has worked with Kylie, Stella McCartney and most recently Bat For Lashes (he did the album cover). But for the last month his home has been donated to strangers. Our arrival feels slightly invasive, as if this is a private party, but only for a moment - we are greeted by a six-foot, raven-haired (and stubbly) Judy Garland, who somehow knows our names already. Ushered to our table, we are presented with the only optional part of the menu - wine, wine or gin.

Waitress & Performer Nando

Our first course is a tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad combined with hunks of pitta. After the food is cleared away the smokers habitually begin to file outside but are ushered back in with their fags - as a private area, the usual ban doesn't apply. During a break in proceedings, our waitress Nando gives a mimed performance of Eartha Kitt's I Want to be Evil between the tables.

The main course - generous portions of roast beef, pre-roasted mash and spring green - is excellent. "I don't feel too flustered about catering for twenty strangers. I just found a good menu early on and stuck to it!" Tony tells us, visiting our table for a chat after dessert. But the quality of the food belies his early training as a chef.

Tony chatting with guests

The food is good and the curatorial surroundings lovely, but how does this differ from eating at a friend's (beyond perhaps the decor and drag act)? The feeling is closest to that of being in a family restaurant in a foreign country; being welcomed by people you don't know in a place full of odd, ornate objects, the personal significance of which you couldn't guess. Really, Tony Hornecker's house is a museum, filled with a mix of curiosities and his own art - here a huge painting of Pervez Musharraf behind a collection of disco balls, there a boneyard of taxidermied birds behind a homemade staircase and everywhere a sense of resurrected House on the Prairie charm.

Keep an eye on tonyhornecker.wordpress.com for future dinners.