An all-day Venetian-style cafe and art gallery launches tomorrow close to the new museum which opened in Perth last year to house Scotland’s iconic Stone of Scone.
Osteria Bau Bau is the culmination of four years of planning by founders Francesca Tata and Neil McCulloch, who met at art college in Dundee. They believe it is the “hip, contemporary cultural hub” that Perth lacks – a multifunctional venue combining food, music and the arts.
Francesca, who grew up near Venice, says: “An osteria is a typical Venetian-style bar that opens from breakfast until evening. It’ll serve coffee, Venetian street food, good wine and a small selection of simple food and drinks.
“There’s nothing like this in Perth. We’re going to specialise in spritz, which is also from my region” – in all, there will be nine varieties of spritz, including two non-alcoholic versions.
She added: “While there are already some Italian-inspired businesses, we are going to focus on the Veneto region, and propose food that you cannot find anywhere else”. This includes tiramisu, which the Veneto claims to have originated – although the are rival claims from elsewhere in Italy.
The couple have been running live drawing classes and art workshops in Perth’s Craft Beer Bottle Shop for the past year, and plan to build on this. Neil says, “You don’t need to be a trained artist to come along.” In the evenings, DJ sets and live jazz will also be part of the programme.
Osteria Bau Bau will trade from 8.30am on Wednesday to Saturday and 10am on Sunday, until 3.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and 5pm on Sunday. The soft opening starts tomorrow, March 15, with a formal opening to follow.
