Tucked in a corner of Lion’s Head strip mall, Ollè Korean Eats takes its name from a Korean expression for a trail that leads to the front door of a house. That’s because owner Ahra Ko wants guests to feel like they are coming home.
Ko launched Ollè in October with husband Ryan Lee, who leads the kitchen. The couple met in their origin country, South Korea, but have lived and worked for more than a decade in Nashville, where Ko’s restaurant résumé has included Ichiban downtown and Lee’s has included Sunda in the Gulch and Otaku Ramen in Franklin.
In a cheery, bright storefront with counter-service dining and grab-and-go coolers, Ollè offers a menu of bunsik-style light food. Made popular during rice shortages of the last century, the category refers to recipes made with flour — think dumplings and noodles — but now more broadly includes affordable street snacks that contain rice.
No base item on the menu of bibimbap, kimbap, japchae, mandu, fishcakes, fried tonkatsu and seasonal soups costs as much as $20, and many orders come with generous servings that can be shared. The comforting bowl of sweet and savory japchae (glass noodles with vegetables laced with garlic, soy, sugar and sesame oil) could easily feed two diners or last for several rounds of leftovers, especially with add-on toppings of fried chicken cutlet, marinated and sliced beef bulgogi or pork belly.
For a fresher springtime bowl, bibimbap layers a base of warm rice with cool chopped vegetables, fried egg and spicy gochujang sauce and can be topped with bulgogi beef or spicy pork.
A cousin of a sushi hand roll, kimbap wraps seaweed and rice around fillings such as beef pork, egg, fresh carrots, bean sprouts and pickled radish.
Familiar Korean banchan, such as kimchee and other fermented snacks, line the refrigerated shelves, along with packaged desserts. In addition to various sodas and drinks in the self-serve cooler, Ollè offers a playful assortment of non-alcoholic beverages that get mixed to order in a cup and then sealed like a pop-top can, with flavors such as yuzu mojito, hibiscus melonade and peach green tea.
Open 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Ollè is closed on Tuesday. Visit the restaurant at 70 White Bridge Pike.

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