Melbourne has a new modern Spanish restaurant at Hotel Indigo, down the western end of Flinders Lane.

Ana Cortes Garcia, previously the head chef at two-hat restaurant Lee Ho Fook, and director Guy Holder, co-owner of Carlton’s Epocha, have teamed up on Beso. The 110-seat restaurant will be Cortes Garcia’s personal interpretation of Spanish food.

“It’s the cuisine I grew up eating in Andalusia that incorporates influences from previous inhabitants of the peninsula, and also my own perspective on international techniques and ingredients that make Spanish cuisine even more flavourful and playful,” she says.

As well as training and cooking for eight years in Spain, Cortes Garcia tackled Japanese cuisine in London and worked in Melbourne at Vietnamese restaurant Anchovy, currently in hiatus, and Chinese fine-diner Lee Ho Fook. “I’m a nomad,” she says.

That explains dishes such as chicharrones (fried pork jowl) with togarashi, a Japanese pepper blend; oxtail dumplings with Lanzhou chilli oil; and charred greens with pickled daikon.

The seafood platter is a celebration of what’s best in Australia and Spain, presenting European tinned seafood alongside fresh local bounty as a lavish shared feast. And look out for a cheeky toastie filled with morcilla, Spain’s distinctive blood sausage, and served with apricot preserve.

“The vibe is casual,” says Cortes Garcia. “Imagine you are gathering with family and friends. Everything is to share, the food keeps coming until you run out of crockery and all of a sudden, your cousin is eating salad out of a coffee cup. We want to bring that spontaneity.”

The new Hotel Indigo is on the corner of Flinders Lane and Spencer Street in a revamped nine-storey building that was previously a Holiday Inn. Beso has its own Flinders Lane entrance and identity but the food and beverage team also handles buffet breakfasts and room service, which will start to skew Spanish as the months roll on.

“I worked in hotels when I started in hospitality in 1996,” says Holder. “I couldn’t imagine I’d ever do that again but the brief here was to create something unique and special for Melbourne. Hotel restaurants have had a bad rap in Australia but they are finally cottoning on. I want people to walk in off the street and say, oh, there’s a hotel here too!”

Along with restaurant manager Tim Davey, he’s curated a wine list of Victorian and Spanish labels, plus a strong sherry focus. “Everything on the tapas menu goes well with sherry,” says Ana. “Little sips, little bites – it’s the best way.”

Ruben Lopez Mesa is the founder of Eat Spanish, an Australian organisation promoting Spanish cuisine. He sees Beso as a landmark restaurant.

“It’s massive for Spanish gastronomy in Australia, not just because we are going to see the amazing talent of executive chef Ana Cortes, but because we will witness the unique opportunity of having a Spanish experience inside a hotel chain,” says Lopez Mesa.

“Imagine if that takes off and suddenly other hotels around the world want to have Spanish food.”

Beso – it means “kiss” – has Spencer Street frontage one kilometre from where Frank Camorra launched game-changing MoVida at the Carron Tavern in 2002. Lopez Mesa thinks this new restaurant has the potential to be just as important.

Beso will open Tue-Sat 5pm-late from August 22.

575 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 03 9612 5757, beso.com.au