Alan Tomkin’s new Glasgow Southside venture, Ollie’s, has a feel of a coastal style kitchen you could imagine a Hollywood couple renting in The Hamptons. As Alan Tomkin’s first opening since Urban Bar & Brasserie, St Vincent Place in 2006, Ollie’s couldn’t be further from the style of his other outlets which include Vroni’s, Vodka Wodka and Blue Dog.
Alan refuses to take the credit for the style. Says Alan, “It was my wife, Hazel’s inspiration. We hired Michael Dunn’s Design Build Deliver, and gave them a strong brief.” Ollie’s, which is situated on Nithsdale Road, was a coffee shop called Rhubarb in its previous incarnation. Alan comments, “It was a coffee and cake kind of place and we still want to offer that, but we also wanted to create a nice neighbourhood place where you can come and have a coffee, a glass of wine or pop in for your tea.”
Even though it’s been open just over a month, it is already proving a hit with locals, and the ambience is more city chic than suburban which Alan puts down to the manager, his daughter Emma. “Emma was very influential from the beginning,” he says. “She was clear what type of restaurant we had in mind and has created that.”
As for the menu, says Alan, “I was keen to put stuff on at a price that people can’t quibble at. Pizzas had to be on there so people will come in for a glass of wine and stay for a pizza.”
He concludes, “We’ve been mobbed since we opened. I was expecting the evenings to take a while to take off, but they’ve really been busy. Evenings here are ‘lights low, candles on the tables’ and people seem to love it.”
Meanwhile he is gearing up for his the opening of The Western Club on Royal Exchange Place.
