Get the first look at Penelope, the chic new Euro-style supper club from the MAYA team
Next week, one of 2025’s most anticipated new restaurants will officially open its doors to the public. Penelope, the brand-new European-style supper club and lounge bar from the MAYA Rooftop team, is a sleek and seductive drinking, dining and dancing den that will be offering refuge for gourmands and bon vivants until the early hours. We got a sneak peek inside Penelope ahead of its opening on Thursday March 20 – come and take a gander …
As far as dining precincts go, James Street’s cadre of high-quality restaurants is incredibly well-rounded. While the strip doesn’t lack for anything, next week the team at Coats Group (the squad behind MAYA Mexican and Il Molo) will open a brand-new venue – one that you didn’t know you needed until now.
On Thursday March 20 the crew will pull back the curtain on Penelope, a fun and approachable 75-seat European-inspired bistro, bar and supper club. The chic newcomer promises to add a fun dynamic to James Street’s existing offering, giving diners and revellers a place they can spend all day and night. Penelope is a triple threat – framed as a leisurely lunch spot, an intimate dinner destination and a late-night haunt, the venue is a box-ticking addition that can be your first, last or only port of call.
The Coats group brains trust (founders Jason and Katie Coats, and group general manager Josh Mitchell) has flirted with a James Street manoeuvre for a few years now, but only decided to pull the trigger when the semi-subterranean space previously home to Bar Tano (and, before that, Bucci) became available. When it did, the team had the idea for Penelope primed and ready to put in place.
“This was an idea that we had already been working out behind closed doors,” explains Josh. “When this space came up, the European supper club concept seemed to marry up quite well. We’re calling it a drinking, dining and dancing den.”
For the majority of Penelope’s build, the fit-out progress has been shielded from prying eyes by hoarding and, more recently, a bank of sliding fluted-glass windows. Had you been afforded a glimpse inside, you’d have seen a truly impressive interior taking shape. Penelope is a top contender for one of Brisbane’s most aesthetically pleasing restaurants – a sumptuously designed venue that feels nostalgic and transportive, but also in tune with the understated glitz of James Street.
“It’s an intimate space – we want to lean into that as opposed to trying to fight against it,” Josh says. “You step inside and you could be anywhere else. Down here it feels like you might be in a New York or London supper club. All of a sudden you don’t feel that you’re on James Street.”
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While Penelope’s aesthetic might harken back to the opulent mid-century bistros and lounge bars of New York and London, the group was careful not to succumb to the pitfalls of pastiche – instead aiming for timeless palette of textures and materials, accented by playful details (keep your eyes peeled for the golden plaques at both entrances).
“Initially, there was a nod to nostalgia,” admits Katie. “We said ‘Okay, we want this to be fun. What’s a moment in time that was fun?’ We wanted to look back a little bit but make it for the now. We wanted to design a space that was a fleshed-out concept – it’s not just about making it fit and look beautiful.”
Penelope’s low-ceilinged space is divided into two halves. Both of the venue’s entrances will deposit you near the bar area. Separated from the main dining room by a delicate gold chainmail curtain, this nook boasts Art Deco-inspired checkerboard tiles, rendered walls, a marble bar top, brass fixtures, a fluted-glass back bar gantry and a DJ booth illuminated by filament bulbs. Seating is spread across stools at the bar, along a newly installed laneway window and a cluster of high-top tables.
Framed as the more casual side of Penelope, the team plans to keep the section open for walk-in custom for the first month. Those that rock up can snag a table or pull up a stool at the bar and enjoy some snacks or a full meal, if you’ve got an appetite.
The bistro space is decidedly more loungey, with a plush material palette of gold-hued velvet upholstery, heavy curtains, quartzite stone tabletops, dark timber and plush carpet conjuring a luxurious, yet more intimate, atmosphere. Guests can sink into cloud-like banquettes and armchairs, or get cosy with pals in one of two circular booths. A disco ball reflects the light from the room’s striplights and hanging pendant lamps, while 3000 LEDs installed in the ceiling can change colour at the touch of a button, turning the vibe from demure to electric. An eight-seat private-dining room can be accessed via the laneway, with keycard access, top-tier sound system and own bar making it the perfect nook for a special occasion.
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Penelope’s menu stretches across lunch, dinner and late-night snacking. Evan White, Coats Group’s executive chef, is heading up the Penelope kitchen, working collaboratively with Jason, Katie and Josh to craft dishes that all have an element of classic bistro cooking, are slightly retro-leaning and are incredibly fun.
“I think we wanted to keep it simple, but suit where we are,” says Katie of Penelope’s menu. “Classic bistro was a really nice fit – it complements the space, it complements the street and it can be a bit of everything. It could be something you’re having at noon or something you’re eating at midnight.”
Penelope’s a la carte menu starts with Oysters Penelope (with a champagne and strawberry mignonette), fish-finger sangas with tartare and pork croquettes with seeded-mustard creme. From there, diners can indulge in a succession of small plates, like wagyu beef tartare with pecorino and pickles, bluefin tuna crudo, duck parfait with pickled sour cherry, and crispy chicken tenders with buttermilk ranch and lashings of hot honey.
Mains see the kitchen shifting gears to pump out plates of smashing bistro classics – there’s steak frites au poivre, chicken thigh cotoletta with wild garlic, capers and potato salad, pasta alla vodka with smoked mozzarella, ‘nduja and stracciatella, and dry-aged duck with orange glaze and beetroot.
“The classics are the classics for a reason,” says Josh. “This menu is a reflection of what we believe are the best bistro dishes over the last 50 years, tied in with a drop of nostalgia but done with modern cooking techniques.”
Peckish punters will be thrilled to learn that Penelope will be offering a separate spread from 9:30 pm until the venue closes at 1:00 am. Framed as the ultimate room-service menu, the offering is inspired by some of the world’s great hotel lounge restaurants – think your Waldorf Astorias and the Connaughts. “It’s the stuff that you want to eat when you’re feeling a bit naughty late at night,” says Josh.
Night owls can nosh on gildas and devilled eggs, Calabrian anchovies on toast, a house club sandwich with chicken, smoked bacon, native bush tomato and Dijon, steak au poivre with frites, three-cheese jaffles with caramelised onion, and fries with whipped roe and pickle salt. Got a dessert craving? The Knickerbocker Glory, a decadent brownie with hot-choc fudge and caramelised banana will be just the thing to guarantee sweet dreams.
Penelope’s beverage program is as carefully considered as the food, with a similar ‘classics first’ approach applied to the bar’s cocktail list. The team has put a Penelope spin on a number of classic retro-leaning cocktails from the 1970s to today. An early standout is the Martinez Cocktail, a precursor of the martini that the Penelope crew makes with Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru, Rinomato Rosso, cordial and cherry. Penelope’s wine list is composed of 60 percent Italian and French vino, available alongside some trusty workhorses from Australia and New Zealand.
Penelope officially opens to the public on Thursday March 20 – head to The Directory for more information.