Dexter: ‘My, she was yar’

Tracy: ‘She was yar alright…. Was, and is…. I made her shine’

                                                      Katharine Hepburn and Carey Grant in Philadelphia Story

Yar – ready; quick; nimble

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, a divorcing couple, look back at the joy they shared, sailing the schooner Grant built as a wedding present for his wife: the True Love.

Well, this is our version of the True Love. After years in the hoping and planning stage: we’ve knocked through and Omni is now a bit bigger - and we’ve made her shine!

We’ve managed to do it without closing: only, we should say, with the incredible teamwork of those on site who wish to remain nameless – but you know who you are. With the tolerance of our very kind neighbours, curious customers cheering us on -and always, always – our loyal and unruffled staff who have remained calm in the face of disappearing tables, shape-shifting rooms, relocated crockery and a kitchen hosting electricians and plumbers mid-service. You are good eggs all.

Like her older sister our new room has been gussied-up on a shoestring and whilst the paint and dust and noise are no longer a feature, it will be a work in progress for a while. We’re thinking nooks and crannies, plant-life finding its feet and shimmying along string lights, our beautiful map of the Reunification Express railroad will find its place….Currently we’re borrowing from Grace Dent and nurturing ‘a feeling of intimate house party, just before things get a bit hectic!’

We look back to the days in 2018 when we began to keep a tally of the number of people we had to turn away at the door – the numbers were astonishing – and the best advice from our business mentors at the time was: relocate.

But we couldn’t. Just like the schooner Carey Grant crafts for his soon-to-be ex-wife,  Omni corner is our one and only true love. This has been a labour of love  - and not transposable anywhere else.

So, we’re just a bit bigger now.

And you’ve proved us right in making this bold ( read scary)  move in tricky times: the tables have filled, the familiar vibration of appreciative eaters not-holding-back tells us all we need to know and we all thank you.

Susanne, Louis and Corrie

Book a table by phoning 0191 2512819

We do have walk-ins.

“ If you want one thing too much, it’s likely to be a disappointment. The healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and buttermilk – and feisty gentlemen”                                                                          

                                                                                                      Larry McMurtry         Lonesome Dove

News of our expansion into next door has generated quite a buzz and not a little inventive speculation!  

We’re excited too – but the reason for doing this is a very everyday thing – we want to be able to offer seats to the (weekly average) 74 of you we can’t currently seat. Yes, we’ve kept a tally for years now and whilst it’s a little seasonal, on a good/ bad week – depending on your perspective! – we have to turn 90-odd enquiries down. 

Not for too much longer!

There is an incipient sense of renewal which infuses all Omni-talk now – it’s that feeling that Spring is teetering in the wings; we’re talking coats of paint, measurements, permissions and new plantings – it’s all full of life and the odd wrangle… a feisty gentleman indeed.

‘Nothing will work unless you do’       Maya Angelou

Yes, Omni is quietly brimming with some exciting news.

Throughout the duration of Covid lockdowns we’ve been filled with the glorious, life-affirming news that not one, not two but five, yes, five Omni-team babies were on their way! 

Two have already arrived and the other three will arrive in quick succession over the next few months. Suddenly we are a-buzz with talk of sleep routines, first words -  and slightly bleary-eyed as teething takes its toll on slumber. Babies have trumped dogs in our affections, although like all good parents we just grow more love to accommodate both!

And now seems like the right time to say something about another new arrival: Omni will soon be expanding into next door. We know how many of you we have to disappoint every week because we just can’t seat you, we know our single loo simply isn’t enough and we badly need storage space – so when we heard the lease was about to become available – it made sense to go for it.

We will still be little Omni on the corner, we have no plans to change what we do –we just look forward to doing a little bit more of it, it with added comfort and ease. There will be some tapping and knocking and a bit of muddling through but we’ve got great people on board to help us bring about this new addition with minimum fuss. Watch this space and wish us luck!

There’s a post-script to this.

When Lou (one of the Omni partners) left home, we were left with layers of teen-age detritus in his room - and still not quite believing he was gone, we mulled sentimentally over objects we had no use for – and nor did he. He had moved on, quite literally and it was time we buckled down and did the same.  Of course we had to keep the little medals he got for best attitude at summer football camp; for months we kept the door all his friends had left messages on as before they scattered.  Eventually we settled the new era of phone calls from remote parts:

‘ Mum, listen to this……’    

Silence.   

‘ That’s the sound of the Great Wall of China!’   

Skate board and mixing desk went into the loft. Snow board and snow jacket – ditto. The sleeping bags that had cocooned the numerous sleep-overs – they had to go. 

And so it is for our bonny Omni food van. A  little pearl of a vehicle, originally a French cattle truck, we brought her over, kitted her out then, whoomph – Covid –all bookings cancelled and she’s languished in a lock-up for the most part of the last two years.

She deserves better, so we’ve braced ourselves and accepted that whilst she’ll always have a big place in our hearts – it’s time to move on and re-home her.

If you’re interested she’s road-ready, either for food sales or, with a little work she’d be a perfect workhorse for adventures   – going for £20,000 ………

Please email us on info@omnicafe.co.uk

Tuesday 7th, March

May we have your attention for a moment please?

We’re keeping this simple…

Every single one of us in Omni is compelled by the utter horror of what’s happening in Ukraine, to do something – and the obvious something we can do is donate money quickly to the DEC Humanitarian Appeal.

So, we’re launching an extraordinary Supper Club, to be held on Sunday May 1st at 2pm. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to the appeal.

We all want to use more than words to demonstrate our shared humanity and to keep the suffering of our fellow human beings right at the front of our minds. People who, in a different world, could be sitting at our tables, or we at theirs, sharing food.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am via our website shop www.omnicafe.co.uk/shop (£55pp)

Wednesday 19th, January

Harvest moon, magnolia buds, spiking hoar frost….

January swerves from damply bleak to heart-breaking moments of joy.  This week our dog walks were taken in the company of an ethereal harvest moon, rising above the sea, as westwards the sky streaked with gold and carmine. Taking time to pause and offer a silent thanks.

Back in Omni, thanks too for the kind contributions of plants and bulbs which have come our way over the past week… plans are afoot for a planting weekend,  restoring  some of the damage wrought by Storm Arwen.  We’re willing those little fellas to get comfy, take root and blossom like crazy soon!

Another much-anticipated countdown has started: only a month until we’re connected to three-phase electricity and all that means:  no more power-outs and the scramble for fuses (huge sigh of relief!) –and-  the re-introduction of our outside heaters to see us through to Spring’s slow warming. Those outside tables have hosted hardy souls throughout but soon we’ll be toasty again and normal service will be resumed, with ample helpings of rugs to boot!   Only 30 days to go…. 

Last thing we’re waiting for …. well, we’re in hospitality -  we can’t not mention the imminent outcome of Sue Gray’s enquiry. I didn’t know it worked this way but apparently Boris needed to be told he wasn’t allowed to hold/attend/ approve by omission a drinks party – or two. Word to self?  The self that actually said the rest of us mustn’t hold /attend /approve drinks parties , let alone visit cafes, bars and restaurants - quite properly – but with devastating consequences for folk whose living depends on being open and being similarly hospitable. 

Maybe above his pay grade? Outside his moral compass?

Easily addressed……

…..Omni is looking for a Kitchen Porter – energetic, focused, reliable, quick thinking, team-player; someone with proven track record and personal integrity …. Ah! … on second thoughts, no, we love our team….!

Tuesday 4th, January

We hope you all did a little singing and swinging and getting merry like Christmas? …….and you’re looking forward to the new year brimming with hope and full-beam optimism? 

Here’s to us all…we’ve done the hard stuff and we’ll keep doing the hard stuff if we have to but if the early signs are true … maybe … maybe we’re looking at a healthier and more joyful 2022.

Our new year begins with evening service tonight – and we’re really looking forward to welcoming you on Tuesdays from now on. Just like the old days!

We’re also looking to put some zing back into the outside of Omni very soon. The gales blew parts of our planting clean away and mysteriously – some planters too!  All our nascent Spring bulbs may be poking their heads above ground somewhere – but not here sadly! The awnings took a battering too and the beautiful bamboo clearly didn’t know what had hit it and has turned brown overnight. In fact we’re rather embarrassed not to be looking our Sunday-best on the outside… albeit temporarily. 

Maya Angelou opines you can tell a lot about a person by how they deal with three things: lost luggage, a rainy day and tangled Christmas lights. The storm certainly brought two test conditions howling to our corner – and wreaked a little bit of havoc along the way but…..

But – we do like a project, so,  please bear with us whilst we push our hands down the back of the sofa for loose change, beg and borrow some overlooked bulbs (it’s still not too late for planting ) and pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down – and start all over again! And yes, if you’ve bulbs you forgot about, or overbought, we’re not too proud to say - donations will be very gratefully received! 

Happy new year to you all, 

Love all the folk at Omni 

December, 2022

Snow had fallen,

Snow on snow, 

Snow on snow 

                                                                         In the bleak midwinter – Christina Rossetti

Rossetti ‘s simple words mark the passage of time as the falling snow insulates and obliterates… …

But here in Omni, the spirit of Christmas is alive and crackling! 

We’re nurturing a little flame of optimism and a whole heap of determination, continuing to be as cautious as we can be: we never eased up on  the precautions we put in place to keep all Omni folk safe and happily (fingers crossed) our team is intact and serving a full house very evening.  The few cancellations we’re having are soon filled by walk-ins – we can feel a gentle and measured will to celebrate, albeit safely. 

We’ve all come to recognize that celebration doesn’t have to mean a wild night of gay abandon. Instead, after the drought of human company imposed by lockdowns and isolation we’re all appreciating the good and simple joy of sitting with those we love, sharing some pretty amazing food, some rib-cracking laughter and some tears, lodged in throats whilst we’ve all soldiered on, finding release in the sympathy of friends.  

Of course we’d be crazy not to acknowledge that our heads are above the parapet at the moment but whilst it’s still possible we’d like to reassure you we will take the greatest  care of you when you visit - and there’s so, so  much to celebrate in Omni at the moment. 

Our wreaths flew direct from the website to your doors in a twinkling. There they were – gone!  Asian cook books and Viet coffee kits have proved to be joint no. 1 sellers this year so clearly you’re inspired to try this at home! 

Making its debut this week in the café is our new pale ale, a collaboration with our friends at Two By Two – a juicy brew, looking utterly gorgeous in a true Omni-style can, designed by our chef, Amanda.  It’s a perfect companion to our menu – and would make a beautiful little stocking filler! 

Our big news is that, in a flourish of optimism for the new year,  we will be opening on Tuesdays, just like the old days! Remember? We can do it again….

And a final  PS  - Check out our opening hours between Christmas and new  year  – we’re keeping the doors open as much as we humanly can over the festive period…… please feel free to wander in,  with dogs, with visitors - or reserve if you prefer certainty ….. we’re happy to welcome you all     ……. See you soon 

Wednesday 13th, October

Summer days, drifting away……

Back from sunny climes and walking the dog around the fields. When we left two weeks ago, summer was drifting away, teetering on the cusp. Now, as our Canadian cousins say, ‘It’s a mite fall’ish’.

The swooping swallows are gone now, replaced by the cacophonous Canadian geese. Endlessly declaring their intention to leave, they take off convincingly in their arrow-head formations, heading out in their hundreds, only to return to land again in the next field. Are they practicing? Undecided? 

Like the swallows our minds are clear and already focused on the next thing: and there are many next things to think about! We’ve two more supper clubs before Christmas, the café is hired out for a couple of private family celebrations (yes, it is a thing when we’re otherwise closed on Sundays!) and the van bookings for family parties and events next year are already filling our diary. 

There’s a buzz running through the teams as we tweak and coo over the rather lovely offerings we’ve chosen for our Christmas online stall…. some delicious, some beautiful and some inspirational! And although last years’ Christmas wreaths were a means of keeping our spirits up and the doors open – we enjoyed the making of them so much – we’re doing it all again!  Look out for the big Christmas reveal in a couple of weeks …

There’s drift in and out of the team too. Drifting away is John, stalwart of the kitchen throughout the tough times. After breaking bad with us for the last couple of years, it’s only right that he’s using his enormous brain by taking his first steps into the world of post-grad chemical science. G’luck John. We’re also sadly counting down the days ‘til we have to say good-bye to Rosie who’s off to look-after orphaned orang-utans in South America. Orangutan envy…. us? Yup!

Some of you may have been lucky enough to have spotted the return of our lovely new-Mum Claire? She stepped back in last Saturday and it fit like a glove: she got the warmest of welcomes from those of you who know and love her and she’ll be making several more appearances before her return in Spring. 

Like the swallows, her return makes us very happy.

“ I can’t say what made me fall in love with Vietnam….. everything is so intense. The colours, the taste, even the rain….

They say whatever you are looking for you will find here. They say, come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes…. But the rest has got to be lived.

The smells: that’s the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul.

And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag…. but at night, there’s a breeze… only pleasure matters.”                                                    

The Quiet American Graham Greene

Greene evokes the irresistible pull of Hanoi: we went there and the experiences we had have remained with each of us  - a pool of individual and collective memories we’ve tried ever since to thread through what we do in Omni. 

Last September 15th Omni was five and we had plans to celebrate - but it wasn’t the time……

Now we are six – and it’s a slightly different Omni looking back in a little bit of wonder and a heap of awe and gratitude. Here we still are. Happy, settling back into old routines and planning more adventures. 

We think back to the very beginnings and mentally list the folk who’ve been our friends and supporters through some really tough times. It’s risky – we all know I’m juggling a lot and have been known to forget my own name in a recent Zoom – but if you’re not mentioned please put it down to a tired brain working to capacity and taking a much-needed break next week! 

So, there’s Mick who literally built us from the ground up. Cliff who was so generous with his time showing two complete rookies how to book-keep. The Mums and the Dads who filled in the gaps when all our energy was going into getting this off the ground. The really great great-grandparents ( key players in our Fantasy Football team!) who have loyally turned up for weekly coffees and meals, made shortbread and tipped like there’s no tomorrow. Nick who gave us invaluable financial advice and pointed the way. Paul  – cuz and mentor whilst we found our feet.  Neighbours who’ve been stalwarts and keep a watchful eye when we’re not there – thank-you Lily, Debbie-next-door, David Upstairs, Maxine and Peter up-the-road.  Sisters who’ve had sympathetic ears when the going has been tough. Brother who makes me laugh, all the way from Canada. 

Our cast of amazing staff who’ve come and stayed and are now family – you are - and we’re so lucky. And those who’ve always been travelling on – we love to hear your stories – many of which are inextricable from our own – keep coming back.

We can’t list all our astonishingly generous, vocal and loyal customers who’ve made this place the reason to celebrate today  - but heck- unlike Vietnam we don’t ask for your souls – just that you keep coming, with your laughter and your kindness. 

Remember Greene’s words ‘Whatever you are looking for, you will find here’  

Thank you all, very much

Love Omni x

Friday 3rd, September

We’ve had a gorgeous few weeks – proper sunny summer days, tables moved to accommodate reunions and just that move-a-little-closer-now-that-we-can feeling. The hubbub has been a bit of a joy. Space and airflow are easy to measure out generously when we have indoor-outdoor tables. 

Old freedoms have been re-discovered and newly appreciated by us all.

We’ve asked nicely – all bums on seats for little ones - and you’ve shown your understanding when we’ve guided little explorers back to tables: hot drinks and bubbling broths are not a good combo with tinies underfoot!

Our regular dog-walkers have returned to reclaim ‘their’ seats early mornings – and their have pets settled accommodatingly under said seats with an air of canine entitlement. 

Babies come, snooze, observe – and let parents know when the time has come to move on.  Café-life isn’t for all of us ……!

We’re watching the season turn again and thoughts of sloe gin and spiced damson puds are being thrown into conversations, reluctant to let go of the last days of summer but greedy with anticipation of foraging afternoons and bottling evenings.

See you on the corner!

x

Wednesday 4th, August

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

Omni is basking in the summer heat and the awnings, usually put to service as draught-excluders, offer shady spots for cooling off with iced peach tea, bowls brimming with ice-cream layered with crumbled halva, salted caramel and crushed peanuts or sweating bottles of beer lao, accompanied by salt-replacing banh mi or pork with pickles. The pace is easy and the tension is gradually leaving our shoulders as we welcome that familiar feeling of Omni in full flow.

Unwrapping the Greek halva from its waxed wrapper transports us immediately to the shops in countless Greek villages, places we’ve stayed whose names escape us now but are immediately familiar: the cobbles on narrow inclines, the washing strung between geraniums on balconies, cats, draped, basking in the sun on the fool-side of the street. Sipping early morning Greek coffee, the only other customer the Greek Orthodox priest……

Still a little too soon for us, the uncertainty of restrictions, the intimacy of plane seating ---- but meantime this is a beautiful part of the world and we’re very content on our small corner of it. 

Saturday 17th, July

You put your left leg in, 

Your left leg out, 

In, out, in, out

Shake it all about

Yup, it’s all felt a bit hokey cokey this week - another member of staff testing positive meant another closure whilst we all tested   – all happily negative – and with robust distancing and other measures in place – we re-opened.

That’s three times in four weeks - it’s not nothing – financial and emotional resources are depleted when this happens and we, along with hundreds of thousands of others know, opening up on Monday July 19th, for some, can so easily spell more of the same for us. 

There’s an irony there - isn’t there?

Please know we’ve been devastated where we’ve had to cancel bookings, or if you’ve faced a   ‘sorry, we’re closed ‘ sign when normally we would be brim full of happy folk….. it’s the antithesis of what we want to be.

So, as a team, we’re maintaining all those aspects of precaution that have become second nature to us: hands; face: space; airflow and sanitizing.

And who can wake up to an azure blue sky, the lilac smudge of haze along the sea-horizon and the tang of vinegar and vanilla drifting up from the sea front – and not feel oh-so glad to be right here, right now?

In the heat of the day our awnings and canopies offer welcome shade, amongst tumbling planters and with a gentle sea-breeze wending its way inland – perfection.

See you soon x

Thursday, July 7th

The day Omni went dark…….

Over the last sixteen months we’ve weathered the weather, the multi-tiers, the occasional tears, the lockdowns and gearing-ups, the unreliable app -  …. and throughout it all our doors have stayed open. 

But on Saturday our electricity let us down, three major trips meant we had to cancel our evening service – and we were so sorry. To make those calls to customers with reservations was an awful thing: thank-you all for your kindest words and understanding.

That problem is being addressed – but like a game of whack-a-mole we have a new challenge: the number of key members of our team who have been asked to self-isolate. We’re all taking deep breaths, dusting ourselves down and starting all over again… then again, then…..it’s a bit scary but land ho! We will get there. 

A special mention in the Guardian this weekend really buoyed our spirits, words like ‘talented chefs,’ ‘working wonders,’ ‘destination venue’  -  all balm to our slightly-frazzled souls this week. 

Looking forward we have two new things we want to bring to you: firstly - Wednesday nights! As from next week we are open again on Wednesday evenings, another little step towards normality.

And secondly, Omni’s Nack Box. 

The what?

The Nack Box started life as a snack box of left-over food our teams would take home with them on a Saturday night, rather than it going to waste. In true Omni kitchen-style humour, somewhere along the way it lost its ‘S’ -  then our chefs got more involved and soon the Nack Box was a beautiful thing, coveted. Opening the box at home with a glass of something chilled, after a long shift,  became a high-point in our week and we began to think we really should share! 

We hoped that Nac might mean something even vaguely food-related in Vietnamese -  but no, it doesn’t. So Nack it is!

Look out for a box blending morsels full of smoke, tang, heat and spice – perfect to take home for a relaxed supper, coming this way soon.

30th June, 2021

‘That was the week that was’ or, a day in the life of a small café.

There were many moments last week when it really did feel as if we were bit-players in a particularly cruel satirical comedy:  just how many curved balls could the gods of mischief throw at this small business? 

We started the week with another man down. Our already depleted kitchen team girded their loins, as they have done over and over (thank you guys)  and Corrie stepped back into the kitchen. We could do this.

Meantime the howling gales and lashing rain had pounded our canopies overnight and one was adrift, a pistol-shot crack reverberating with every strong gust. And we needed this space for a large socially -spaced booking. 

The lovely folk at Mendys made a running repair to our canvas and the team spent a while lowering all the canvas sides, hanging extra heaters and adjusting the lighting against the gloom of what looked like an Arctic evening. It was 3pm on an English summer afternoon. The magic worked - the pergola was glowing and gorgeous- ready for our large booking. But wait ….. 

A no-show. Not a peep. Hundreds of pounds. Thanks guys.

Add to the mix a seemingly irreparable brand new dishwasher, ( warranty- shwarranty)  a broken aircon system and a desperate need for a garage space for our wee van…. we cannot lie, tears were shed.

But wait….

We hear that a friend of a friend has a daughter who may be looking for a kitchen position. She is, we like each other – she joins us for a busy Saturday evening - and things are looking up. The sun comes out and warms our cockles and our poor battered plants outside are offered tender first-aid – most will pull through. 

Saturday evening saw the van’s first outing this year at a small private party and from all accounts, added both delicious and sparkle to what was a lovely surprise for a family birthday. 

We can do this.

In a fortnight we will be re-opening on Wednesday evenings. Give us a couple more weeks for our newbies to find their feet and that will extend to all day Wednesdays.

Little by little we are moving towards the old Omni opening ….. older – but heck, so much wiser!

Wednesday 9th, June

‘What a swell party, swell party, swellegant, elegant party this is!’    

                                                                                            Well, did you evah?       Cole Porter

Last week the rays came, azure skies ruled and school was out: a perfect recipe for café life to turn up its volume. It was so uplifting to see the tables fill inside and out and experience the highs of brilliant feedback  - oh my gosh that review?! Sad then to have to pick ourselves back up after one of our team was berated for a Covid-spacing reminder, which then became a personal attack.  This left us really shaken – but happily it’s been our only awful experience – so thank-you all for knowing the stuff – and taking it well when we have to offer gentle reminders that we’re still taking great care of you and our teams. 

Back to the good stuff – our ‘swell party’ to end a really swell week!  So very many supper clubs have been arranged and postponed and re-aranged …. and you’ve stayed true … and at last, this Sunday we were able to throw open the doors and welcome you to the first supper club this year. Six tantalizing dishes, each voted the most delicious, until the next one arrived! Your feedback is what keeps us going and f’sure, it couldn’t have been more effusive and generous….. thank-you all.

Thursday 20th, May

‘An unwinding pool of obscure angles, a glass of tea, an opened journal and a round metal table balanced with an empty matchbook.

Cafes.

Le Rouquet in Paris, Café Josephinum in Vienna, Bluebird Coffeeshop in Amsterdam, Ice Café in Sydney, Café Aqui in Tuscon, Wow Café at Point Loma, Caffe Trieste in North Beach, Caffe de Professore in Naples, Café Uroxen in Uppsala, Lula Café in Logan Square, Lion Café in Shigbura and Café Zoo in the Berlin train station’

                                                                                                                       Patti Smith        M Train            2000

Smith lists the cafes where she’s spent time, quietly, observing, writing. 

Not mentioned but lamented for its sudden passing, her local café, Ino, where the welcome was unarticulated but made all the same in the serving of her black tea and toast with olive oil, without a word being spoken. It matters – she is known, recognised and at home there. We all need this feeling of deep connection.

For many of us cafes are the backdrop to our lives. We eat, meet, laugh, cry – and yes, here in Omni we’ve had a customer nod off …. All life is here and we’re happy to host. Some of you we know very well – others, we’ve yet to have the pleasure but the welcome will be warm.

We have missed those of you who come early in the mornings to sit with a paper and a coffee as the day stretches and flexes. The coffee and cakers. The scrape of the chairs as you settle with friends – and the laughter – how we’ve missed the laughter and the calling and the thrum as the life inside the café builds momentum as the day goes on. 

So, passing cyclists – you’re welcome.

Walkers and runners – you’re welcome.

Nonagenarians – you’re welcome too.

Families and friends – welcome.

Café-friendly dogs – welcome…..

The doors are open…… we look forward to seeing you all !

Thursday 22nd, April

Homecoming…..

What a wonderful feeling of coming home last week. The doors opened (metaphorically!) and some of the old familiar faces took their places at our outside tables. We shared the delight of recognition and tales of coping. New friends who found us when searching for exciting take home food, took their places for the first time and left saying this was going to be habitual! 

You have given the seal of approval to our long, lingering early morning pastries and cakes and Auntie Phil’s cheese scones leapt out, selling like the proverbial hot cakes. Lunches and evening meals were fully booked and yes, the buzz was there. The lights glowed, passers-by loitered to see what was afoot: we’re back! 

The sun shone and the honeysuckle around the pergola stretched it’s fingers a little further. The evenings were particularly chill – dang! Happily you hardy northern souls slathered on the goose fat for extra insulation – or at least layered fleece and down – and our heaters and rugs did their very best. Evening temperatures are unseasonably low again this week so more heaters and rugs have been purchased and if your own cold-weather layers don’t quite do it - you will be well-lagged on request!

So, welcome back. We all have a little squeak of excitement in the back of our throats – it’s so good to be here!

Thursday 15th, April

Hi! Welcome…. Come on in

We’ve missed you.

Yes, today the grey, endless days of lockdown are put firmly behind us and Omni’s doors open once again. The day is crisp, the skies a luminescent blue and we’re so very ready to settle you into our outdoor seating, under the canopy, beside the honeysuckle.

Arriving early? From 10 there are all the makings of a long, lazy breakfast. Fresh, buttery pastries, melting croissants with rather special butter and homemade jams. Aunty Phil has perfected an irresistible cheese scone. And… and… inspired by all those childhood holidays where the day started in little bustling Italian squares and the zumo machine rattled out huge glasses of pure orange juice…. we’ve gone a little crazy and bought one of our own. 

When the street food of Hanoi had proved just too irresistible for too long, an iced glass of lemon juice, spiked with ginger and mint offered an astringent counterbalance to all the unctuousness – so we’re doing it here.

The whole thing works very well accompanied by a Vietnamese coffee, or one of our teas served in beautiful cast iron pots.

Maybe breakfast is earlier in your house? Can we tempt you with Sweet Love cakes and coffee? Grandma’s shortbread and a pot of tea?

Kitchen opens at 12, plenty of time to enjoy a glass of something chilled before ordering from our lunchtime menu. If nothing else, lockdown has given our chefs unexpected space and time to have a whole lot of creative fun in the kitchen, so look out for the return of old favourites and the ushering in of some new dishes with their own addictive qualities!

We go dark between 3-5 to turn ourselves around in preparation for evening service. Then from 5 the pretty lights go on outside, heaters make our Spring evenings convivial and rugs are always available to throw across knees or shoulders…..and evening service commences.

Chilli and coconut cashews, miso crackers, an ever-changing range of lagers and wines- or one of our delectable gins  - nibble and sip whilst wrestling with your menu choices – this or that? Why worry, all dishes on our evening menu are good for sharing. Then, if there’s room – an affogato, or an ice with oozing miso caramel and hazelnut shards. 

Having spent the past four months preparing for this moment we really hope you have that lovely familiar feeling of homecoming as you enjoy the dishes you’ve craved – and you find some newbies that jostle for your affections! 

So, that’s an Omni-day. 

Whether you’re one of our cherished regulars/ friends, or just passing through, maybe you’re cycling along our beautiful coastline, or now working from home and in need of a break.  Maybe your having a meeting, or meeting friends. Maybe you’ve been lonely and need to feel a connection with life again. Maybe you’ve seen our special mentions (lovely surprises!) in the national press lately…..whatever brings you to Omni’s door, we’re ready, thrilled and waiting to offer the warmest of welcomes.

See you soon

All the Omni team  

Thursday 8th, April

Come on you people now

Smile on your brother 

Everybody get together

Try to love one another right now

Youngbloods, 1967

It’s feeling a bit like a first date right now : so exciting, a bit scary – and a whole lot of unknown…..! 

We really are feeling the thrill of the re-opening date: we know what we’re wearing: plastic masks so we can say a proper hello. We know where we’re going: outside, under our canopy where the honeysuckle is threading it’s way along the uprights. We know what we’re doing: we’re finessing menus as we write.

There’s a little bit of unknown thrown in -  and it’s around who can sit down and eat together.

It’s become clear many, many folk we’re talking to are of the view that if you can meet 6 friends outside – then you can book a table for any 6 – outside.

Only if we had very, very big tables!

The advice to hospitality at this stage is ‘ serve people sitting at a table outside. You should keep to your household or bubble’

We won’t be asking -we’re all adults…. but we’re hoping like us, you’ll adhere to the sentiment in the words of the song, let’s love one another and keep ourselves, our brothers and our sisters, safe. 

See you next week!

Can we say that again?!

See you next week!!

Thursday 1st, April

Twenty- third and we are so proud!

Wow! 

Saturday morning and there it was, leader piece in the Times Weekend,  ‘40 best places to eat outside in UK’ and there we were, rubbing shoulders with Michelin-starred eateries – in at Number 23! ( just before Tom Kerridge, in at 24 – just saying!)  Nothing to say this is a rating but whichever way you read it, - and we have, again and again …. we’re pretty cock-a-hoop!

O my!

Then the wires began to hum and they haven’t stopped: congratulations, more kind words from the devoted and the curious.  A  ‘phone shift’  had to be brought in to deal with the enquiries and reservations. 

So, to make sure you know where, when and how you can share in the joy, here’s how we’ll be operating, with a little why thrown in.

We are starting slow and easy, just to make sure the gears don’t grind. 

Thursday April 15th, two weeks today, we open outside for:

10-12pm 

Coffee and cakes. We’re working on bringing back the addiction-forming cruffins and pastries from our friends in the Northern Rye kitchen. 

12 - 3pm    and    5pm – 8pm 

Kitchen opens for our revised lunchtime and evening menus: some old friends you’ve yearned for and some new dishes we’re so excited for you to try. 

Call the café - tables can be reserved and we recommend you do!

That said, of course we’ll offer a warm welcome to walk-ins when there are seats to fill and we’ll let you down gently if we have to disappoint!

Daily specials take advantage of our suppliers’ seasonal recommendations and keep us fresh in every sense. Happy chefs look forward to working up these dishes! 

We have learned you are fond of a Click and Collect so we’re holding on to that as an option – we’re busy making our back door Omni-lovely so queues don’t hover over diners. Look out for the arrow and omniroundthecorner sign!

To start with it’ll be a Thursday-Saturday week, quickly adding a Wednesday once our newbies have found their feet and we’ve slipped back into the Omni-flow.

Are we nearly there yet?

Yes!

Only two more weeks to go…….!

See you then.

Thursday 25th, March

Magnolia Memories

There’s a magnolia tree outside our house and looking down at the full, fuzzy buds, from our bedroom window today is an instant telegraph connection back to this time last year. I remember the day we closed Omni – and the instant sense of loss. Our last customers, three elderly ladies, regulars, had wished us well – and us them, none of us sure, thankfully, what we quite meant by that. We cleaned everything down, stored it away and tried to imagine when we’d be back and felt the gut-punch of terrible sadness. I went home and looked down on the tree and wondered if it would be in flower by the time we re-opened.

Who could have known then?

The weather was unusually warm and over the next week I watched as tiny splits ran along the magnolia buds and the exotic pink petals could be glimpsed inside. The news of the pandemic’s devastation was at odds with the luminous blue skies and hilarious birdsong which woke me every morning at five.

Then one morning there they were, each bud had escaped it’s protective cocoon and flamingo petals reached out against a turquoise backdrop. Within days it looked as if a host of exotic butterflies was resting in the glorious sun – the long pink petals, twirling and shimmering in the breeze.  

The birdsong and the magnolia tree – my connections to a year ago.

And now, here we are, one year after lockdown and the tree is once again ready to make her beautiful show …..a blackbird wakes me every morning and we in Omni are in re-wind – this time happily working to prepare for opening up again. Walls are being washed, paint applied, furniture steamed, floors oiled. Menus are being scrutinized and new dishes trialled and some newbies will join our regular team. It is so exciting!

The diary is filling and we are tingling with anticipation- we’re becoming Omni again!

See you very, very soon.

Thursday 4th, March

Mother Love….

Mother’s Day soon….….isn’t everything ‘soon’ now? And how tantalising that is – we can all make it, hanging on just a little longer,

We wanted to do our bit to celebrate a day for those people in our lives who every statistic says is carrying a disproportionate share of the challenges of lockdown,  it’s true… our Mums.

Pooling our ideas to think about how we can spoil our lovely Mums during lockdown, we’ve come at it three ways: traditional; thoughtful and thought-less!

Feel free to go for one, a two-way combination – or all three! They’re all available from our website shop.

First, the thoughtful. We thought about what every Mum probably wants more than anything: a little bit of time. So, we’ve put together little Time Capsules: full of wooden beads, pretty plastic beads and tiny lettered beads, some cord – plenty to occupy little fingers and minds in making Mum a bracelet with a message on it- perfect. ( we reckon about 30 minutes worth per bracelet  – priceless!)

Now for the traditional. With our box of gorgeous Sweet Love cakes and Lemon and Ginger Loose Leaf Tea – plump the cushions, put the kettle on, set a tea-tray. Take calls from family, read cards, reflect on the things that matter – we’ve got each other. 

Alternatively – we have a third offering: our Mindless Colouring Book! This works – just let the mind wander!  Seriously, it’s a great distraction for minds in absolute overdrive. With Omni-styling throughout, just to whet the appetite for a return to real life, which we hope includes us – because, how we have missed you!

Creatives may decide to combine all three. Let us know how that goes!

See you soon, very soon. 

Thursday 25th, February

Jubilation…

The date hung in our minds for weeks – it felt it couldn’t come soon enough: February 22nd. 

Grandma Ruby’s words to me , an impatient 13 year old, on a loop  ‘ Don’t wish your life away….’

The end to months of uncertainty and something to aim for….

We listened to Boris’ vision for a calibrated and cautious return to life, to our people, to touch - and we knew we had moved from being swimmers in mist, to a place that had clarity, edges – a landing.  Fourteen enmeshed lives form the teams here, we’re friends, colleagues, family - and it seems we’ve made it to the hopeful side of the pandemic intact. We know where dry land lies and we’re so nearly there.

So, whilst these pieces have been largely reflective, we would like to use this one to let you know our plans for re-opening – and most importantly to let you know that all tables are bookable: choose your date, phone friends or family ( rule of 6 / 2 households) – and Bob’s your uncle!

Some of you are ahead of us and already the phones are ringing and the diary is filling! 

Between now and April 15th we will continue to open from 12-3 and 5-8 for Click and Collect, takeaway coffees and cake – and don’t forget Auntie Phil’s delectable doughnuts, to order and collect fresh on a Saturday!

From Thursday April 15  - we open up outside. Our planters are overflowing with beautiful spring bulbs; we have heaters and pretty, pretty lights….

Open

12- 3 pm - lunchtime menu / coffee and cake / ices

5- 8pm - evening menu / Click and Collect

From Thursday May 20 - as above but we can open up our tables inside too

And, from June 21st all social restrictions are to be lifted. 

Of course this doesn’t quite get us back to where we were - but from June we will be looking at increasing our opening hours and looking to bringing back our popular breakfast menu. Lockdown gave us plenty of time to have the big discussions: many happy hours have been devoted to considering the vexed question around authenticity and just how Viet a bacon or sausage sarnie can really be! We came down firmly on the side of giving our lovely customers what they want and it seems (we have tried this!) chao ga – a Viet staple - isn’t what you crave! So, bacon & avocado muffins, good coffee and friends at your table … coming back to Omni soon. And of course our South East Asian daytime menu offers a cornucopia of authentic tastes! 

We also have to fit in Supper Club dates – thank you to all you loyal and incredibly understanding customers who have held on tight to your already-purchased and much-postponed places – we will be fitting in all those dates soon – once we’re confident there won’t be further restrictions.

Last but certainly not least – our patient little van. Taken off road and garaged over the winter – now champing at the bit to get her spangles on - and do her thing at any private function you might be planning. We can park up on drives, on fields – we even parked up inside a venue before lockdown! Get in touch now  – most things are do-able  - just ask ( just scroll down site for more info/ enquiries)

See you soon ( how lovely to say that!)

11th February, 2021

‘You are a little mystery to me…’ (The Ship Song - Camille O’Sullivan)

We’ve had a lovely week in Omni, thinking about, remembering, serenading each other with our favourite love songs all ready to share as a playlist, included in our Valentine’s sharing boxes. 

You’ll have to imagine Matt & Cam harmonising on ‘Harvest Moon’ - and it’s not too much of a stretch to conjure up Phil is his special trackie bottoms growling out ‘Boombastic’! ‘There she goes my beautiful world’ articulates a yearning for all that we’re missing and offers a passionate call out to all that is beautiful in nature.

And speaking of passion - we’ve included little nubs of ginger and turmeric - mindful of Boy George’s preference for a cup of tea, rather than sex (he later retracted!) - but, thinly sliced, these do make a beautifully calming tea! Whichever - tea/passion? In this hugely restricted world there’s still room for both.

Have a lovely Sunday x

4th February, 2021

Walking the dog…..

It takes five minutes to layer-up for the daily dog walk, layering, lacing, wrapping, zipping: the end-result reminiscent of Soviet-era bread queues. Some days it’s just too cold and wet to lift eyes from mud and mire.  The temptation to take short-cuts is tempered by the sheer grateful exuberance of the Covid-innocent dog – her pleasures remain simple - so it’s wet – so what?! 

Some days are rewarded with huge washy skies fading into streaked tangerine and mauve sunsets. Bitter-cold nipping scarf-gaps and ear-tips. Geese bothered from fields, lifting into messy chevrons.

And it works – a loop of reciprocated joy and we always return home with spirits lifted. Back home it takes ten minutes to wash the filthy-but-ecstatic dog post-walk - and another five to peel off outer soaked layers and hang them out to dry. Five to stuff the boots with newspaper. 

On these days the lungs feel brand-new, as if the searing cold has somehow flushed out any threat of virus; we feel virtuous and as if we’ve achieved something – instead of just doing the right thing by our hound.

22nd January, 2021

Causing a crowd to collect… the push and pull 

Here’s our conundrum: every week we meet (safely of course) to share the mundanes of keeping a business afloat where so much is curtailed. With your support and kindness we’re discovering strengths we didn’t know we had and most of all, we are learning to wait. 

Also a forum for creative ideas, time is allocated at these meetings to work out what we can/want to develop for our merchandise page – now there’s a thing we didn’t have on our horizon a year ago!  Happily, we find ideas are not in short supply – but almost everything we might need to order to make things happen, now is! And just how much time can a person spend tracking a mid-December (next-day delivery) order… we could tell you but it wouldn’t be polite. 

We’ve also had a thought that we could utilize the space under our pergola in any number of ways – but of course we can’t at the moment and even when we re-open there’s a danger what we have in mind would cause a crowd to collect – the antithesis of covid restrictions.

And those words, causing a crowd to collect, evoke a story from our family that goes back about 35 years but resonates perfectly with our situation now…….

(Anonymity has been preserved to spare our collective embarrassment!)

It’s 1984. A loose collective of young musicians busking on the streets of Newcastle to raise money in support of the Miners Strike. There was a home match about to kick-off and the streets were lively. Positioning themselves in a convenient recess, they struck up. All eleven of them. Banjo, mandolin, hand drums, bass, flutes and whistles - and fine, fine voices.

Within minutes the crowd gathered.

Complete strangers to words, tempo and melody – the crowd gave it their all, adlibbing a discordant approximation of the verses. Unabashed jigging and reeling took place. The guitar cases filled with change - it was instant and glorious.

Not a view shared by the two young policemen present, who, looking perplexed, could see that this wasn’t threatening – but what was it? A lot of noise, a lot of uncontrolled movement, a large number of quite large men…. They made a beeline for Family Member (the vocalist) and arrested him for ‘causing a crowd to collect.’

Given that this was his raison d’etre those days, playing in community halls and the back rooms of pubs – there was a certain irony. He couldn’t argue (well, he probably did a bit). There was a crowd.

It was a £60 fine. They had raised £120 in the 30 minutes of their glorious set. It still felt like a triumph. *

So, this is where my thoughts go when our brains go into overdrive and we have all these ideas and energy - only to have to reign them in again. 

We’re nearly there. And we can still cause a crowd to collect!

Postscript 

*Same family member was later cautioned for ‘furious cycling’ at 2am on a deserted street.

Delinquent. He’s been told. 

30th December, 2020

‘Find out what’s inside you - make your soul grow’                                

                                                                         Kurt Vonnegut in a letter to high school students

Christmas has been and gone and we hope you found some solace, connection and even cheer with friends and family, in whatever attenuated form. We walked and walked, in the icy winds along deserted stretches of coastline – and knew how lucky we are. The G’s, our very elderly grandparents, wrapped up for fleeting doorstep visits and deliveries of bubble and squeak and mince pies.

It seemed contrary to be celebrating against a narrative of exhausted frontline workers and strained hospital wards – Nero and fiddles came to mind - but our collective mental health needs nurturing too and getting out and about is our number one preventative.

I’d put off writing this piece, so difficult was it in the light of alarming news items, to find that little glimmer of hope and optimism for 2021. Then, at the last moment, 7am, with the first cup of tea, news came through of the approval of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca  vaccine – and the world tilted, real hope takes over.

We know Matt Hancock is going to make an announcement this afternoon – and it may place us in more stringent measures;  we’ve already decided on our course of action for January (assuming this keeps us compliant).

We’ll stay closed on Wednesdays, just through January, until vaccines make all our lives safer. Behind the shutters we’ll be spending time sharing ideas and putting all our efforts into developing the things that make Omni, Omni. Look out for more delicious and Omni-centric things appearing in our online stores over the coming weeks.

Other creative ways we can use our space and skills:  we haven’t forgotten our little food van – ready and willing to chug up to any of your family gatherings held outdoors later in the year – already we’re taking bookings for outdoor weddings and family do’s; we’re also looking at hosting our own discrete events in locations around our beautiful northern landscapes. 

Vonnegut exhorts the student recipients of his letter to ‘practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money or fame but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.’  

With this in mind, whilst we hanker after and long for the days when we see Omni again as Omni was – a lively, lovely hub – humming with voices, laughter and all human and a whole lot of canine life,  until then we’re using the time to see in which ways our souls can grow.

We wish you all hope, health and happiness in 2021

In love and gratitude

Susanne, Corrie, Lou, and all at Omni

23rd December, 2020

‘ – the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one’s hair is all but to feel it. So, whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again.’          

                                                                                             Marilynne Robinson    Housekeeping

This evening we will close our doors for our Christmas break – and as I write, I know how fortunate we feel to be saying this. 

Since our first tentative re-opening as a Click and Collect service in July, through the exhilaration of re-opening – and the sadness of each closure, our teams have worked tirelessly to adapt and so we have survived. They have given of their creativity, their time and their extra-curricular skills to help us set up an online merchandise section, which cantered off at a skittish pace which we hadn’t anticipated but it made us grin: the books were balancing!

Our wreaths flew out to your doors and our oils and sauces to your cupboard shelves – we were a bit shell-shocked – but enormously grateful. We’ve sold  vouchers galore – and we have to thank you so much for this – a sign of your faith in a future where Omni will once more open her doors and we will sit together in the rattle and buzz of a full café again. Thank-you.  It’s frustrated us that our pre-ordering system can’t deal with vouchers – but it can’t and in the grand scheme of things it’s a very little frustration.

Our gratitude goes out to you all: our astonishingly loyal and supportive customers who keep coming back again and again - and in the gaps send us words of encouragement. To our neighbours in shops and homes who have watched us add our pergola and plant our planters and offered support and gifts of plants. These are the kindnesses that fill the spaces where gaps have appeared.

We will take a few days away now, for a drive-by, standing-at-the-gate Christmas with – but not quite with our families – to replenish, to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have those we love, whilst missing them – and to  get outside into our beautiful northern countryside and coastline. We will have very happy dogs!

And what next? 

The world will slowly become whole again next year – we will dust down our beautiful little van ready for booking out for your family celebrations, we have some fabulous ideas for fresh online sales …. we will, little by little become whole again

Meantime,  we all, wish you all -  a truly happy Christmas and a 2021 full of hope, happiness and good health.

See you there!

December 18th, 2020

“ Oh my, it’s fruitcake weather!”  

……..It’s always the same: a morning arrives in November and my friend, as though officially inaugurating the Christmas time of year that exhilarates her imagination and fuels the blaze of her heart, announces, “It’s fruitcake weather! Fetch our buggy. Help me find my hat!”  

                                                                            (Truman Capote - A Christmas Memory)

So begins one of the most moving and exquisite descriptions of the utter joy that can be created from very little, found in Capote’s short story of Buddy and Sook’s preparations for Christmas.

Buddy, a parentless seven year-old and Sook, his distant spinster cousin, live in rural poverty but the main ingredients are all there: important and loving relationships, established rituals and a cherishing of things heartfelt and homemade. 

Pecans are gathered, fruitcakes are made, holly decks their hallway, homemade kites are gifted and their Christmas overflows with excitement and anticipation  ( “I can’t sleep a hoot!” )  -  every gesture and act is imbued with love  -  and Christmas embeds itself in Buddy’s memory forever.

We can do this too – in our own way. 

Omni can’t re-open properly just yet and after the initial excitement around the lifting of restrictions, as a family we’re not getting together other than a round of front-door visits. We’re so nearly there, why not? We can all do our bit to help the world right itself in the coming months and in the meantime we have our own memories of Christmas to sustain us.

Next year ….. Omni teams will conga down Front Street!

Our imaginations are currently exhilarated by the prospect of introducing a beautiful pine-infused gimlet to our gin menu when we re-open: the spruce has been gathered and bottles washed, syrup bubbled; we can’t resist taking little tastes as the infusion does its work and already it’s heady and pretty wonderful! 

Please keep calling by for takeaway coffee and cake, or warm spiced gin, or to pick up your Click and Collect lunchtime or evening orders -  we want to exchange the warmest and most heartfelt of Christmas greetings with you all. You keep us going in all sorts of ways.

Take great care of each other

December 10th, 2020

Latency: the fact of being present but needing particular conditions to become active or fully developed

That’s us!

We’ve had a fevered festive week making and selling wreaths, inspired by the distanced -camaraderie of our tables set out in the café, laden with glossy holly, entangled ivy, aromatic eucalyptus, colour-popping berries – it felt as if Christmas had truly arrived and taken up chaotic residence. 

Sustained by warm home-made cheese scones, hot chocolate and lemon and ginger cheesecake, we worked late into the evening to fulfill the orders. Each one a little work of art, they looked utterly glorious en-masse – and now we have the new-to-us experience of seeing our wreaths on your doors: it feels a like a little bit of Omni sparking to life in unexpected places.

Now the floors are swept and order is resumed and we find ourselves in something of a hiatus.

The wreaths flew out, our merchandise continues to sell at a rate we can only marvel at (thank-you!)  and we’re still offering takeaway coffee and cakes – a great source of gossip and connection – and of course our Click and Collect is going strong, as we gather ourselves, waiting, waiting for the review of the tiers next week. Hoping the news is good and we can fire up the boilers, deck the halls and welcome you back for a warm and wonderful week in the lead up to Christmas. On the glass-half-full basis, we’re taking ‘rule-of-six’ bookings (smaller groups welcome too!) for dates from December 17th.

And beyond the machinations of government decision-making – we have our own clock ticking down – sometimes taking a subtle leap – at others it’s achingly slow……

Only five weeks to go before the arrival of Corrie and Lou’s baby!

December 2nd, 2020

Hallelujah……..

Your faith was strong – but you needed proof….    ( Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen )

Today, the proof, the news to lift us all: one of the vaccines has been approved and plans are underway to begin the vaccination programme which will slowly transform our lives into something we more readily recognize. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah was Cohen’s profound expression of the conflict inherent in being human, something we’ve all been faced with in these stark days, not least our need for human connection, when the last thing we can have is comfort in touch….. but now we know for sure that comfort will come our way again very soon. 

‘This world is full of conflicts- and full of things that cannot be reconciled… but there are moments when we can reconcile and embrace the whole mess… many hallelujahs exist, the perfect and the broken hallelujahs….it’s a desire to affirm my faith in life… with enthusiasm and with emotion’

We’re with Leonard.

So, whilst a muted Tier 3 life begins today –  in Omni we’ve kept the faith and our online sales are cracking!

Last week our new online offerings of halva and Phil’s Cookie Dough were cleared out in a matter of a couple of days – along with the sambal -  but you’ll find them back online from today. 

Susanne, Corrie and Claire spent yesterday fulfilling the last of the wreath orders and they’re stunning – all ready for collection today between 11am and 4pm. We’ve some extra wreath-making materials left so we’ll make a few more over the next couple of days and sell them at the door – we’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer number of you wanting to buy them so this’ll be a last-chance if you happen to be walking by……

We’d love to think we can see you in Omni from December 16th, seeing smiles, hearing greetings and laughter – and creating that buzz which envelops the café when we’re full - just the tonic we need to lift our Christmas spirits!

Keep well – we’re very nearly there.

November 27th, 2020

‘The man that hove into view and stood there looking at him was dressed in a grey and yellow parka’ ( The Road  -  Cormac McCarthy )

Anyone who’s read the book or seen the film of this relentlessly bleak post-apocalyptic tale – will know how powerfully this glimpse of yellow pierces the  monotonous black-grey landscape at the end of the novel: it resonates with hope: sunshine, life, light.

And that’s where we’re focusing, past the Tier 3 gloom and the ambiguity following - and straight into 2021 when vaccines will bring colour, connection and the things we all cherish back into our lives.

Sure, we’re heading through choppy waters these next few weeks – but your support has been astonishing and kindly -  and the adaptations we’ve made have been enough to keep us afloat, so,  the lights are on, the doors are open and yes, land is in sight so we’re steering a steady course.

With fingers firmly crossed for a move to Tier 2 following the review on December 16th – we’ll see you at the front door over the next couple of weeks.

Take care,

All at Omni

November 19th, 2020

Betwixt and between…..

One of the Omni partners has another life as a psychotherapist – and a common theme running through their work is around how we deal with uncertainty in our lives. Time and again in the therapeutic space, they return to exploring how and why even the most free-spirited and adventurous of us need certain anchors, or certainties, to support our going out and exploring the world: we need some predictability. A nomadic friend recently challenged this, citing her life of global wandering and envy-evoking experiences   ‘I relish the unknown, I’d be bored witless if I knew what was round the next corner’   Minutes later she bemoaned the unavailability of her long-distance mother when she called her, ‘ But she’s always there! ’ 

There you have it and here we are!

Stuck in the middle, no certainty, plans on hold, the joy of hope for an end to all this, tempered by the careful measuring of anticipation: dare we hope to be together at Christmas? And what would that mean to all the progress our doing- without has made?

In Omni we’re trying to sit with the uncertainty and deploying distraction tactics to get us through! The wreath-making and selling online has taken off with a bang last night – so no uncertainty for the three of us going into wreath-production between now and December 2nd! 

Sadly there seems to be a nation-wide shortage of jam-jars,  so we can’t put together our halva pud packages this side of Christmas but Auntie Phil’s cookies are making their debut this week and they are our downfall and delight….thank goodness we have to sell them….!

We thrive on your messages and feedback- and the consensus is: we’re all in this together, let’s find little certainties in daily routines, let’s stay connected and share a kind word at every opportunity and before we know it, there will be certainty and predictability creeping back into our lives – and we can all take a deep sigh and be grateful that we now know what a precious commodity it is.

 November 12th, 2020 

‘Hope is the thing with feathers….’

…. the words of Emily Dickinson, poet, writing about the little bird of the soul, which keeps singing its song of hope in all of us, no matter how tough life gets. 

And heck, it feels that little bird is singing its tiny heart out now: hopes for a vaccination, hoping to seeing our families all together at Christmas, hoping for that special rush of anticipation we all get when there’s something or someone cherished just over the horizon.

 Here in Omni news of an imminent vaccine was greeted with a whoop and a holler. 

Hope will see us through -and meantime we’ve put the lockdown to good use. We felt a real buzz of excitement as we went ‘live’ on Saturday, selling some carefully-chosen items online, all with a connection to Omni -  and we were agog when you all but emptied our store cupboard! 

Thank you! And do keep checking the website – most items are back on our shelves now, or will be in the next couple of days-  and we’re re-stocking as fast as our little legs can go!

Over the next few weeks we’ll keep adding more items. Look out for little pots of bulbs full of vibrant Spring colour (mini tulips and hyacinths, crocus and narcissus) or, a pot of pure white snowdrops. Our Omni planters are full of these bulbs and since the good news filtered through, we’re wondering: what will the word look like when those first shiny green nubs nose their way into the sunlight? Pots of soil may be all you see at the moment -but – back to what we were saying about the anticipation,  we can begin to look forward ….and these little pots, getting on with the job of growth and transformation… they say it all…

Another addition to our online store cupboard will be the makings of our- and your- favourite pud: a delicious package containing halva, our own salted caramel and a cone of crushed peanuts. Just add ice-cream. All you need to round off an Omni takeaway… or not…. we’ve found this combination can  improve almost any given situation! 

And Phil’s homemade biscuits, ah Phil’s biscuits -they’ve kept us going through lockdown and now it’s time to share….Our very own Christmas cards, hand-made wreaths …. They’ll all make an appearance over the next couple of weeks

So, are we nearly there yet? Nearly - and with an end in sight the journey is so much easier…….

meantime…

Take care one and all and keep safe

 November 4th, 2020

‘There she goes, my beautiful world…’  ( Nick Cave )

Waking to the teetering disbelief at what’s unravelling  to our west, the omnipresent virus and inhumanity of attacks throughout Europe – it can be hard to lift our eyes and hold anything like hope in mind. 

But we will.

We will spend this morning folding tables, polishing our glasses, watering our plants –very ordinary and comforting rituals -  and life will go on. 

We have long anticipated the close-down and have spent time getting together some new things we’d like to share with you – replacing the sense of depletion with growth. A band of creatives and makers and doers, we’re harnessing all this good stuff and transforming it into some things we hope you’ll like. Like water, we just find a new level.

Bells and whistles

What’s new?  This time round Omni can offer:

• Drop-by coffee and delicious cake – perfect for dog-walking, family outings, meeting a friend out-of-doors, taking a break from working from home.

Anyway, who needs a reason?!

• Lunches 12-3pm – pre-order online - or drop by. Keeping in touch is what keeps us going. We miss you.

• Evening menu – available to pre-order on our Click and Collect. New dishes weekly, specials – we’re going to keep ringing the changes.

• We’re launching our online bit and bobs for sale on Saturday November 7th: They’re carefully chosen to reflect something of our shared passions: plants, food, lists and more! Pay us an online visit and see if anything catches your eye

• Watch this space for more news of a special event we’re planning to welcome in December: home-made wreaths and Christmas decs for sale, hot chestnuts and a delicious hot chocolate …. All under our cosy pergola.

So, not drowning but waving.

Take great care and see you soon

October 29th, 2020

Yes…..

It’s been tough getting Omni back up on her legs – and we still feel a little wobbly.

And yes, we’ve had worrying times – and still do.

But throughout the pandemic we’ve also known and spoken endlessly about – how very, very lucky we are. Sheer happy accident of birth has meant we can work hard and make something we’re all rooted in and proud of. We’ve a community of happy customers and neighbours who take the time to let us know what Omni means to them – and we know how that makes us feel valued and that what we do is worthwhile.

Not one of us has experienced loneliness, isolation or hunger throughout these strange and disconcerting days – and we know how fortunate that makes us.

So, lately we’ve been looking at ways of paying some of this good fortune back. With a blooming Executive Chef at the helm, soon to take some time off to introduce the newest member of the Omni family, we have to choose carefully. Baby steps.

We’ve decided to continue to nurture an existing relationship we have with Shiremoor Adventure Playground, a community-based, inclusive adventurous play facility supporting the emotional, physical and social development of children and young people through outdoor play.

We already provide food for Mavis and Nancy, the resident pigs – but we wanted to do a little more.

We all know the links between healthy minds and healthy bodies, if nothing else the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the benefits to our mental health of being out-of-doors and active -  and this project provides multi-layered opportunities for children to use the fixed play equipment, to grow things to eat, to look after the animals, to participate in decision-making – all good stuff in growing healthy resilient young minds. 

So, we’re keeping it simple, with room to grow: for every child’s meal you purchase, the whole amount will be donated to the Shiremoor Adventure Playground Trust and the work they do with children. It is important to us that what we do is sustainable - this seems a good beginning. 

It’s half-term – come and join us and let’s make a start…

Sept 9th, 2020

We last wrote something here as we were gearing up to stick a toe in the Click and Collect pond – nervous, excited – we weren’t sure whether we could open Omni even partially on a takeaway offering. Well, we could – and we did – and this bit is really a long, long thank-you to everyone who’s been beside us for the past few months: our teams, our customers, our neighbours, our friends and families: truly – thank-you.

Omni is open for business again thanks to you all. 

Here’s how it’s been since starting up again in July…. (with a nod to Camille Yarbrough and Fatboy Slim)

We’ve come a long, long way together…..

September has always felt like a month of new beginnings: new term, new pencil case, new socks….so we thought before we leave behind the loose and lovely days of summer- and saddle-up, ready for the drawing-in of autumn, we’d take a pause here – and look back over the past five months. 

In that time we’ve moved from being a noisy, bustling hive of a place where all of life congregated  – with coffees, locally sourced beers and wines, amazing Sweet Love cakes and of course our inspired and adventurous South East Asian menu – to the darkest days of total lockdown. And then, tentatively, safely, back again!

Through the hard times and the good…..

April and May: we’d furloughed all our staff and deep-cleaned the café, repaired wonky chairs, painted and re-potted until we ran out of paint and pots. There was nothing left to do but and sit back to wait it out, making plans, listening to the advice and guidance……. and when in June it seemed we could do something safely, we unfurled some of our furloughed staff, shook them out of their beds, back gardens and allotments - and they became once again our soon-to-be-sainted team. Together we began to take small, small steps. 

A pergola went up in a twinkling and already the honeysuckle has made itself at home on the uprights. Our Click and Collect offering went bananas online – and so, it felt from the astonishing feedback, did you! Thank you all for the kindest of words sent to us via social media, phone calls and texts-   and not least to the heads poking round the front door as we worked to make our space Omni again. The encouragement you’ve given us to aim past the finishing line – where was that again?!  – has provided the boost we’ve sometimes needed.

When the tables and chairs went up outside at the end of June we felt the sap rising – it was heart-warming when so many of you stopped by to ask how we were, had we survived  -and when would we be back again?

We crossed our fingers, planted more plants, bought outdoor heaters, hot-water bottles and rugs, (after all, we were planning to re-open at the middle of a British summer!) trained ourselves in all things Covid19 – and we’ve been bowled over by the sheer enthusiasm of everyone who’s come to eat with us since our first re-opening at the beginning of July.

We have to celebrate you…..

Our team has met nothing but warmth and understanding as they’ve gently manoeuvred queues, finessed long-arm service and explained just what’s what with our new Covid-aware environment.  Smiles and readiness to connect have been reciprocated in bucket-loads and good-will from you to us, and vice versa, is going a long way to helping us all navigate these uncharted waters. To quote one of our front-of-housers, they are ‘feeling the love’! 

We have to praise you like we should…..

A personal word here from the Omni Café Partners – a tribute to our astonishing teams. Every single one of our staff is thoroughly dedicated to making this work - and demonstrates that on a daily basis: we cannot thank them enough.

We’re humbled by their collective energy, unstinting commitment, flexibility and utter likeability. Thank you so very much, one and all…

So, here we are, at the beginning of September, watching the weather forecasts and listening to government pronouncements and occupying that place of ‘not-knowing’ – along with everybody – yet optimistic we can ride the wave…

We have to praise you…..

In the words of the song, ‘We’ve come a long, long way together….’ and here we are. In many ways we feel we’ve made it, yet we know the next few months will bring new challenges.

We will at some point have to bring all our tables indoors, reducing our capacity.  The country is bracing itself for an autumn and winter like no other…. but, for the foreseeable, we will carry on doing what we’re doing now, it is our hearts delight… and we hope we get to enjoy your company along the way.

Thank you.