The restaurant is reinventing itself with a more casual approach and a new summer menu with bistro-style prices, but Mr Coughlin's signature dishes, such as his famous slow-braised and crisp pork belly; venison Denver leg; and creme brulee, will remain.
They are so popular he couldn't take them off even if he wanted to, he says.
He will also continue to do special functions and degustation dinners where he demonstrates his consummate skill at combining flavours and textures subtly but unpretentiously.
Besides a new approach for Bell Pepper Blues, the chef is extending his interests to the new Swell Café and Bar on the Esplanade at St Clair which opens in about a month, and the upmarket restaurant at the Saint Clair Beach Resort which is planned to open in the middle of next year.
"As executive chef I'll still have my finger in the pie and it will be my influence on the food," he says.
