Alec Dyson is opening a new wine bar and grill, alongside Barry Oattes and the team from Kelvingrove Cafe. Dani is inspired by Alec’s family connections and memories of the Basque Country.

Think pintxos, grilled meats and fish, vermouths. Lights down, music up. Atmosphere. That’s the opening prelude to Dani, a new wine bar and grill opening in Finnieston. It’s a new venue from Alec Dyson, general manager at the Kelvingrove Cafe, teaming up with Barry Oattes and his wife Kirstie to bring something new to Argyle Street.

They are a couple of weeks away from opening now. Tiles are currently being laid on the floor and an idea that has been in Alec’s head for years is beginning to take shape: “This has been in my head for forever. I've still got menus I wrote about ten years ago. I've always wanted to bring this kind of food to life in a venue.

Alec tells me about the inspiration: “My family is from the Basque Country. My grandfather was a refugee in the Spanish Civil War and was sent over to Sunderland. And then my mum and my aunt hitchhiked from Sunland to Morocco in 1971. They went through San Sebastian on the way back and my aunt fell in love with a guy and stayed there.

“So it was kind of full circle, we end up having family back in the city my grandfather was from. I've been going there every summer for since I was a baby. It's always been something I'd wanted to do. I've always loved the food. I've got a real affinity with it. I've got such vivid memories of watching my aunt cook and just being amazed by it. I just want to try and bring that a little bit to Glasgow.”

Alec’s grandfather was a child when he was evacuated to Sunderland, where he raised a family and where Alec grew up before joining the hospitality scene in Glasgow. The connection to the Basque Country remains current, Alec was there a couple of weeks ago visiting his uncle and cousin in San Sebastian, the stunning coastal city that has become a global culinary destination.

“The buildings are just beautiful there” Alec says, “it’s grandiose. You walk on that promenade on the front and it's got all that.”

“Then you go into the old part of the city and it has all these places within one or two streets of one another. They are tiny places but you see them recommended across the world. You can pop in, grab a little bite here, a wee beer there.”

Alec’s most vivid memories of the food there are roast hams and cured meats or “sitting around the table having these huge big steaks in the back room of a pintxo bar. Milk fed lamb chops. Spanish omelettes which are so simple but so impressive.”

Dani, the new opening on Argyle Street, across from Kelvingrove Cafe, will combine a mix of Spanish and Scottish produce with techniques and style of hospitality from the region: “We have some great suppliers. There will be one side of the menu that will be more expensive, but the core of the menu will be very, very affordable. People will be able to have a good time and control their spend. I also want people to have a good glass of house wine at a reasonable price.”

Alec says he can now make a Spanish tortilla that tastes like his aunt’s, so that is on the menu, then there will be other dishes inspired by northern Spain: “sitting at the bar, eating clams or fresh crab, dunking your bread in the juices.”

There will be space for specials and some improvisation in the menu, they will not be tied to the theme, but the style of hospitality will reflect they way that Basque wine bars bring people together, and also reflect the way Kelvingrove Cafe has become one of Glasgow’s best neighbourhood venues.

Alec says:”You know the atmosphere in the cafe is second to none when it's bustling. We’re not rigid in the way we work, there will be banter and there will be warmth and that will travel across the road to this wine bar when we open. There will be music and it’s a bar that does great food with a big grill position behind it. It’s going to have a great energy.”