The brains behind five-star, three-hat Sydney restaurant Sepia, long the darling of the Harbour City's food scene, are moving to 80 Collins Street, a new food and retail premises in Melbourne. In 2016, Time Out said Sepia had "food that thrills and hits off every note of pleasure in your mouth with such educated intuition that you start to feel there must be dark magic at work". We're pretty excited to try it. The restaurant has been on a lot of lists as one of the best in the world, and it's shut up shop in Sydney to open in Melbourne. The new restaurant is a collaboration between Sepia chef Martin Benn, Sepia maître d' Vicki Wild and Lucas Group entrepreneur Chris Lucas. The new venture is set to open next year.
That's not the only exciting restaurant coming to 80 Collins. Chef Alejandro Saravia, of Pastuso, is launching a farm-to-table restaurant, called Farmer's Daughters. The restaurant will source all of its produce from Gippsland, a region Saravia fell in love with years ago and now champions at every opportunity. Farmer's Daughters will span three levels, with the ground floor serving deli goods and charcuterie and the rooftop level focusing on vegetable-led snacks.
And glamorous Sydney bar Nick and Nora's is also opening in 80 Collins Street. The Sydney version has 12 pages of whiskies available, luxury finishings and a humidor full of cigars for smoking out on the special smokers' balcony. It belongs to the Speakeasy Group, whose other members include Eau de Vie, Mjølner and Boilermaker House, so you know they know what they're doing.
80 Collins Street is expected to open next year.