Bubbles and Rahul Randev of the R Group are set to re-open the former Carriages in Lenzie as The Grove, a new bar and restaurant complete with a rooftop terrace. The pair have knocked through to the next building and the new-look bar will launch in the new few weeks. Meanwhile following their purchase of Las Ramblas in Bearsden earlier this year, the restaurant has been revamped and will re-open shortly as The Larder. The concept behind the Larder is to offer fresh 25 small plates of simple well prepared, locally sourced, food. More next month.
Roberto Cecchetti has taken over the former Bar Milano in Giffnock and re-opened it as Babbo, a seasonal Italian restaurant and deli. Roberto, who was formerly GM at PanoVino in Glasgow, told DRAM, “We are going to be focusing on seasonality food, and each season our menu colours will change. We will also be serving our classic menu, and hope people will come in for just a coffee, brunch at the weekends, a few drinks or a full blown meal. ”
The 23-bedroom Park Hotel in Peebles re-opened last month after a two-month refurbishment. Now owned by Crieff Hydro, the Park has been refurbished using tweeds and upcycled items from the Victorian March Street Mill in the town. Chief Upcycler and former mill employee, Ann Napier, is behind the new look. The hotel has a new bakery, bar and restaurant with butcher inspired menus. There’s also a vintage double decker bus which as been “repurposed as a (kind of) outdoor seating area”. It now boasts a gallery that showcases local artwork. The hotel has also introduced a somewhat controversial continental breakfast in a box, and offers a £5 voucher towards dinner if you decline the room turn-down service.
Bar Milano has a new look, and a slightly modified name. Susan Young paid a visit to the eatery in Glasgow’s Southside.
There’s not that many places that you can go for a drink or a bite to eat in the suburb of Giffnock but many locals may be inclined to stay closer to home now that Bar Milano in Main Road has had a revamp and re-opened as Milano Italian Kitchen and Bar and is now owned by Ian Donaldson and Lello Branco.
The traditional looking restaurant complete with Italian murals, dark wood panelling and timber, has been replaced by a classy and contemporary bar and restaurant, and the refurbishment which cost in the region of £200K, took only 19 days and was orchestrated by Burns Design. The building was formerly a bank and is listed and as a result there is not much that can be changed outside, but inside there has been significant changes to the layout.
As you walk in the door there is now a modern bar on the left, explains co-owner Lello Branco, “Before the bar was at the back of the restaurant, which didn’t encourage people to just come for a drink. Now we have the bar on the ground floor, so now our guests can come in for a drink and stand at the bar.”
The area also has a large posing table and a few sofas in a pale mushroom and dark glass coffee tables with an L-shaped fixed seating area upholstered in a metallic mushroom fabric against a rich coffee coloured wall, which also has a modern feature fire at eye level.
Said a spokesman for Burns Design, “The main objective was to make Milano more sumptuous and relaxed and give it a more modern and fresh look. To make it more relaxed we went with a lot of soft fabrics and furnishings and muted tones, in earthy but subtle colours. The whole feel of the place was to be softer.”
Now the bar area is downstairs and you go up a few stairs to a new mezzanine which boasts two large semi-circular booths, in a luxurious metallic fabric and a few dining tables and chairs. This area leads to a larger restaurant area, which remains very similar in size and shape to the original. Says Lello, “We have modernised this area, and made more of a feature of the stone wall. The addition of the mirrors, framed with the cream curtains also adds depth to the room and makes it appear much bigger.” Here the seating arrangements include semi-circular booths as well as smaller, more intimate tables. The gold has been contrasted with black chair covers, which makes for a classy presentation.