The luxury venue scored two hats for its modern Sydney spin on hotel dining. What does the latest decision mean for the city’s appetite for restaurant openings?
The Bentley Restaurant Group will step away from its plush venue Brasserie 1930 at Capella Sydney, ringing wider alarm bells for CBD restaurants given the group’s closure this month of its prized Monopole restaurant, overlooking Australia Square.
Brasserie 1930, overseen by Bentley group’s Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt, scored two hats for its modern Sydney spin on hotel dining when it opened in early 2023 in the heritage-listed former Department of Education building at the northern end of the CBD.
Savage declined to offer further comment on the exit, which will be effective from the start of October, pointing to a joint statement from the hotel and its team. “We’ve had some amazing talent work in the restaurant over the last few years,” the Bentley pair said in the statement.
The move won’t be the end for Brasserie 1930; the venue will continue under Capella’s watch, with the hotel announcing Marco Putzolu as its new chef de cuisine.
But if one of Sydney’s most gilded restaurant groups is contracting its northern CBD footprint, does the move foreshadow a dip on the two-decade hospitality bull run for city hospitality openings? If industry sentiment is any guide, the short answer seems to be: no.
Despite a wave of closures, reboots and pivots, Sydney’s insatiable appetite for restaurant openings is showing few signs of bowing to talk of declining consumer sentiment or belt-tightening. Restaurateurs remain bullish about the Sydney CBD and the capacity of its inhabitants to keep spending.
In November, Melbourne restaurateur Chris Lucas will bring his grand Grill Americano to Sydney, shoe-horning it into a mid-century building at Chifley Square that previously housed a Specsavers. The same month, northern beaches chef Giovanni Pilu will open Flaminia in the Toaster building at Circular Quay.
The Bentley team won’t take pause either, shifting focus west to Barangaroo, where they’ll open Watermans in October.
Monopole had only just shut this month when talk began of another experienced operator snapping up the Curtin Place site. Matt Yazbek, who relocated his stalwart Surry Hills restaurant Toko to George Street in 2022, confirmed he had nabbed the vacated Monopole site.
The CBD’s double-edged business flex of daytime workers and destination evening trade encouraged Yazbek to take a chance with Koda, which will open in November. Koda will be influenced by Japanese cuisine and culture, but not exclusively tied to it, with a menu that “leans into” Japanese technique using Australian produce.
Young up-and-coming operators are also piling into the CBD. Cynthia Litster and Evan Stroeve, who opened bar-restaurant The Waratah in Darlinghurst two years ago, will add Sakura House, on Elizabeth Street in the city, to their stable in late 2025.
A late-night bar with a 4am licence, Sakura House will take inspiration from Japan’s izakayas, and push a strong small plate food program delivered by former Cho Cho San chef Nick Sherman.
“It was previously a French restaurant called Rabbit Hole, which closed down a few years ago,” Litster said.
“It was just an empty basement, really bare bones. What drew us in was the uniqueness of the property itself: winding stairs, underground, layers of character, and the fact there aren’t many spaces like it in the city.”
“For us, choosing the CBD is about playing a part in revitalising the city after dark. There’s a real opportunity to bring late-night energy back into the heart of Sydney, and we felt this site was the perfect canvas for that.”
Veteran CBD operator Frank Dilernia has noticed a big shift in the city since he opened sherry bar Tapavino in 2012. “Back then, people used to go back to the suburbs [at night] to eat,” he said.
Dilernia has launched a number of venues since Tapavino, but he’ll open early next week on his most ambitious project, Epula restaurant, at the GPO building.
The grand bones of the GPO building have been pimped with a Luchetti Krelle design for Epula, which features leopard-print banquettes, tortoise shell chandeliers and marble tabletops.
The Latin word for feast, Epula will “dance” between Italian, French and Spanish food, Dilernia said. That might entail a plate of orecchiette con cime di rapa or a Basque cheesecake. “I’m really excited about the John Dory mosaic [a take on crudo],” he said.
As a close observer of the CBD market, Dilernia has long admired Martin Place’s potential as a piazza. The success of Alejandro Saravia’s Latin American Morena restaurant next door to Epula at GPO, and the 2024 opening of sprawling hospo destination The International, has added to Martin Place’s mix.
Just off Martin Place, in the precinct inhabited by late-night venue Caterpillar Club and new arrival Grandfathers, the Chinese restaurant from the team behind Clam Bar and Neptune’s Grotto, Bistro Ebony is about to open at 123 Pitt Street.
Bistro Ebony owner Joey Commerford worked at The Press Club and Vue de Monde in Melbourne. His new Euro bistro “with a French and Italian lean” will be launched on October 7.
Last week, chefs Nessiana Pamudji and Ferry Tshai joined the wave of Sydney CBD arrivals, opening Aroma of Indonesia at Barrack Place on Clarence Street. The Indonesian-born chefs worked in Sydney restaurants such as Billy Kwong and China Doll before shifting their focus back to Indonesian.
Pamudji said when they started out in Sydney, Indonesian restaurants used to be tucked away in suburbs such as Kingsford and Maroubra.
“That made sense back then, because that’s where a lot of Indonesian students and families lived, and those spots always felt like a little taste of home,” Pamudji said.
“We wanted to bring authentic Indonesian cuisine into the mainstream, not just for those who grew up with it, but for everyone. The city gives us a broader, more diverse audience and the chance to share our food and culture with people who may never have experienced it before.”
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