Wylde for Liqour: Coupette
Coupette - not to be confused with Choupette, Daddy #KarlLagerfeld's spoiled pussy - is the name given to a shallow champagne glass said to have been modelled on similarly shallow Marie Antoinette’s pert puppies (see below).
Herself, an over-indulged fash-cat, Louis XVI’s missus was renowned for her extravagant millinery confections that from October 1793 would, post-chop, fail to further bother her pretty little head. Coupette is also the name chosen by Chris Moore (below), ex-head ‘tender at The Savoy’s gilded Beaufort Bar (think Dolce & Gabbana designing a set for a Ferrero Rocher commercial...) for his maiden solo venture in increasingly interesting E2.
A retro French estaminet with nods to Fifties film noir and modern-day ‘Beur’ culture synonymous with the ‘hot’ housing estates north of Paris, Moore’s Coupette would look equally baba-cool in La Bastille or Brooklyn as in Bethnal Green.
At a counter inlaid with thousands of old French coins, sink cocktails fashioned from Calvados, Armagnac and pastis; various kirs; regal fizzes such as Belle Èpoque indulgence Soyer au Champagne (it involves ice cream), and ‘cidre’ that’s a cut above Stella Artois’ TV-advertised scrumpy. Marie-Antointette notoriously suggested that her old man’s starving subjects should eat brioche (not “cake,” nota bene). Nowadays, East End sans culottes can feast on Coupette’s croques, truffled creamed leeks and confit salmon, and merguez with Basque piperade. Revolutionary, n’est-ce pas?