You know that feeling when you’re having a meal at a gorgeous restaurant, and you just want to linger – even though the candles are burning low, and wax is splattering on the tablecloth, and you get the sense the restaurant is closing around you?
It’s a common experience and one that Matt and Monique Breen – who run North Hobart wine bar Ogee – know very well.
The pair have become the latest in a long line of chefs extending their restaurant’s offerings into the accommodation space.
As shown by the Nilands opening a boutique hotel attached to Sydney institution Saint Peter, South Australian destination diner LVN opening a guesthouse, fine diner Brae in regional Victoria and Jonah’s and Cottage Point Inn on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, chefs are looking to extend their brand of hospitality into overnight stays.
The opportunity to open a guesthouse was presented to the pair recently when the property adjacent to Ogee went up for sale, but it’s something that Matt, whose background includes stints in hotels like Saffire Freycinet, has wanted to do.
“We’ve always wanted to extend our dining experience at Ogee into something more,” Matt tells Broadsheet. “[It’s about] wanting to look after people, wanting to give them the extra bits and pieces that you can’t always do in a restaurant. Eventually we want to do in-room dining but [for now] we can just knock on the door and bring a bottle of champagne and some Gildas or oysters and entertain in a different light than you would in a restaurant.”
The guesthouse, which was designed by architects Mark and Adela Drury and interior designer Aneka Sidoti alongside the Breens, sleeps four guests. There’s a commercial-grade kitchen, stocked pantry and a listening lounge kitted out with Pitt & Giblin flare speakers and 50 records from Matt’s vinyl collection.
Matt says they envision the bulk of their bookings will come from couples. “It’s set up for two couples,” he says “If you were to come to Hobart with your friends and coming to dine out and go to Mona and enjoy Hobart’s offerings, you could come and stay at the guesthouse and sit back and drink some champagne, listen to records, then just head out, get a wine at Ogee or head down to Sonny … I’m hoping a lot of chefs [and other] people are travelling to eat, and drink will come and stay with us because it’s really my dream house.”
The couple’s first guest was Melbourne chef Tom Sarafian. Naturally, the Breens have designed it to be “a chef’s dream”.
“We’ve modelled the kitchen in the guesthouse off the Ogee kitchen and it’s all decked out with commercial cookware … we’ve all stayed places where there’s a stove that barely works, there’s horrible Teflon pans, there are spatulas from Kmart, and we’ve just decided to get rid of that junk and just have really quality kitchenware and beautiful glassware,” he says.
The kitchen is stocked with artisanal Tasmanian products. Chris Greentree of Kenyak chocolates has made a bespoke tiramisu bonbon available exclusively for guests. There’s a bottled Negroni from Ogee, sparkling wine from Ogee’s list in the fridge and a half-loaf of freshly baked bread from Smith Street Bakery and cultured butter on the counter.
It’s available to book on Airbnb for $350 per night.
Who should come? “People who are really into music, wine, cooking, eating out. It’s sort of designed for people like that,” says Matt.
The Ogee Guesthouse is available to book on Airbnb for $350 per night.
