Designed by a big name, Coupette has an owner who’s “obsessed with hotels” and wants his venues to stop hotel guests walking out the door after they check in.
A busy intersection in Southbank is the site for Coupette Corner Bar & Bistro, the flagship venue for an optimistic move into hotels by Melbourne hospitality powerhouse The Mulberry Group (Hazel, Dessous, Lilac).
The 66-seat all-day dining room is on the ground floor of the stylish new Hannah St Hotel, designed by Flack Studio, which won awards for its work on Ace Hotel Sydney.
“I’m obsessed with hotels,” says Mulberry founder Nathan Toleman, who studied hotel management when he left school before veering into food.
Just as he shifted Melbourne food culture with defining cafes such as Higher Ground, Toleman is now aiming to reshape the city’s hotel dining.
“People often come to Melbourne, check into a hotel, then walk straight out of it into the city,” he says. “But when I go to the Ace Hotel in New York or The Calile in Brisbane, I don’t leave. I stay there the whole time.”
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The 188-room, 10-level Hannah St Hotel anchors the 65-storey Queensbridge Building in Southbank, which also has 320 apartments. Toleman sees potential in looking after residents with wine tastings and events, and he’s expecting further foot traffic as the City of Melbourne develops a disused underpass at the front of the building as part of the Northern Undercroft refresh.
When I go to the Ace Hotel in New York or the Calile in Brisbane, I don’t leave. I stay there the whole time.
Nathan Toleman, founder of the hospitality group behind Coupette
Coupette’s chic curved dining room wraps around a central bar flanked by marble-topped tables on a terrazzo floor. The lobby also flows through bolthole cafe Hannah St Coffee, the Carriage Lounge for relaxed drinking or laptopping, and Bar Hannah for cocktails and snacks – all under the Mulberry Group umbrella. On level 10, a lounge and terrace will become Propeller, a chef incubator restaurant.
“We’ll give people a chance to test a concept … without the worries and overheads of signing a lease,” says Toleman. “I’m thinking of it as MasterChef meets The Block meets Shark Tank.”
Overseeing the food across all venues is chef Andrew Beddoes, who left his leading role at hatted Enoteca Boccaccio in Balwyn to take on the gig. “I couldn’t say no to such a good opportunity,” he says.
Coupette’s French bistro menu is classic and unthreatening. In soft openings, chilli crab omelette was the biggest brunch seller across hotel guests and locals from nearby residential towers. Later, it’s the crab salad with green apple and lardo.
“We stir it with crayfish mayonnaise and pour an oyster dressing at the table,” says Beddoes.
Among the mains, lamb rump is served with crumbed sweetbreads, and steak frites features Victorian wagyu rump and butter flavoured with tarragon and chervil. As the menu develops, it will lean more Italian.
Opening Hannah St’s five venues at once is a strong move for Toleman, especially as he has just experienced a rare failure. Abbotsford restaurant Molli shut six weeks ago after a second stab at shaping the offering failed to gain traction.
“We gave it a good shot,” he says. “It’s like a relationship. You go into it thinking it’s going to work and hoping for the best. But the reality is, not everything works. You can either decide never to date again or you can pick yourself up and get out there.”
How’s the mood as Coupette enters the dating pool?
“There’s always risk and fear when you’re opening a business,” says Toleman. “But I’m feeling really good about this one.”
Open daily 7am-10pm
90 Queensbridge Road, Southbank, coupettemelbourne.com.au
