Sepia is Sydney’s loss, Melbourne’s gain

It’s a coup on a par with Melbourne Football Club signing Lance “Buddy” Franklin from the Sydney Swans.

Martin Benn and Vicki Wild are taking their Sepia restaurant in Sydney to Melbourne.

In a restaurant industry coup on a par with Melbourne Football Club signing Lance “Buddy” Franklin from the Sydney Swans, one of Melbourne’s most aggressive restaurant entrepreneurs has done a deal with one of Sydney’s most revered chefs to bring him south.

Martin Benn and his partner Vicki Wild, co-owners of the acclaimed Sepia restaurant in Sydney’s Sussex Street, will set up shop in Melbourne next year in partnership with Chris Lucas, the restaurant proprietor behind a string of super-successful Melbourne eateries and a forthcoming branch of his Chin Chin brand in Sydney’s Surry Hills.

Benn and Wild flagged last year that when their Sydney CBD lease finished they intended to close Sepia and move on to another venture. Nobody saw this coming. They will trade at Sepia until December 31 before heading south.

“We’ve had a few offers (from abroad) but the grass is not always greener we decided. Australia is paradise, it’s given us everything,” said Benn today.

“And why not Melbourne? It’s a great food city and I don’t personally see the two city divide.”

Benn confirmed that the new Melbourne project would be “a serious restaurant with serious prices.”

“Everyone was saying fine dining is dead when we opened Sepia 10 years ago. You evolve with your customers. We have young customers who eat in cheap places one day and with us the next.

“I’ve always said I want to change the game, not let the game change me.”

Said Wild: “It would have been easy for us to stay here and continue the known, but we really need to challenge ourselves.”

Lucas, on the cusp of opening his most ambitious restaurant yet, Kisume, in Melbourne’s Flinders Lane, is known to have been courting several of Australia’s best chefs for a high-end restaurant project.

“Why would I do something with anyone other than the best?” is all Lucas would say to that suggestion today, confirming his intention to open something “without compromise” to showcase Benn’s food.

He scotched rumours they would take over South Yarra’s iconic Botanical, a site Lucas still owns (he once operated the business before selling it).

“They (the tenants) have a long lease, so I’m looking for the perfect site in the CBD, preferably. We haven’t found it but we’ve been looking for a couple of months.”

Lucas said that beyond collaborating on a fine diner the trio had plans for other concepts downstream.

“Martin and Vicki are not only special talents but also humble and hardworking people whom I’ve enjoyed getting to know,” said Lucas. “We have so much in common when it comes to our views on hospitality and the art of building great restaurants.

“Martin has not only been referred to as the next Joel Robuchon but more importantly, in my view, is regarded here and internationally as ‘the chef’s chef’, a man who is profoundly committed to his art.

“Imagine Martin’s food in a spectacular Chris Lucas room. Even better imagine a new level of Martin’s food in an uber cool environment with a powerful backing of service, wine and design. He’s an international talent that needs an international world class room.”

Benn, a Briton by birth, is widely regarded as one of the country’s most creative chefs and with Wild as restaurant manager Sepia has won just about every award and accolade possible.

Benn became enamoured of Japanese ingredients during a long stint as head chef at Sydney’s Tetsuya’s and continues to take Japan as the inspiration for his other-worldly creations.

Lucas, who lived in Tokyo and did business there for several years, is also highly enamoured of the culture and its food.

Benn was named Australia’s Hottest Chef by The Weekend Australian Magazine in 2014 and chef of the year by foodie bible Gourmet Traveller the same year.