Spanish anchovies on coffee butter, an interior from Bistecca designers TomMarkHenry, a chef from A Tavola and a 400-strong wine list.

Co-owner Tom Hardwick is confident he has the ingredients to up the game in Coogee.

"We've had people pop their head in [during the build] and say it's great to have a venue for grown-ups in Coogee," Hardwick says.

Coogee Wine Room opens today a few doors along from Maloney's on Coogee Bay Road.

The ground floor is somewhere you'd slink in for pitstop drink en route from beach to home, while upstairs the lighting is dimmer and the atmosphere more intimate.

Hardwick and manager Brooke Adey (Bea, Chiswick) curated the wine list (half priced under $100), with 25 wines by the glass.

"We've found a lot of the wine bars in Europe allow you to enjoy half serves of wines from the list, and then sell the remainder by the glass so that's something we will also offer," Hardwick says.

Head chef Sandro Di Marino (A Tavola) has a breezy opening menu with baccala fritto with yoghurt and pickled red onion ($12), pork cheek sliders with cavolo nero ($8 each), lamb rump with spring greens and tarragon sauce ($36) and a 800-gram steak with rocket and reggiano ($82).

"My grandfather was a wholesale butcher and the family is still in the meat business, so we're shipping from Victoria," Hardwick says.

The tail-end of the menu includes a classic ricotta cannoli, while serious sweet-tooths can dive into a chocolate board with chocolates from Australian wine regions.

Open Mon-Wed 3pm-late; Thu-Sun noon-late.

222 Coogee Bay Road, Coogee, 02 9665 5478.