One of Australia’s best restaurants, Sepia, will be closing its doors within the next two years, with owners Martin Benn and Vicki Wild announcing they’re looking for a site for their next foodservice project.
Sepia, located on Sussex Street in Sydney’s CBD, will not be renewing its lease when it expires in two years, and the business could potentially close its doors sooner, if Wild and Benn find an appropriate site for their next venture.
“We’ve already got the next idea, we just need the right site,” Wild told Good Food.
She said the next project – which will also be in Sydney – will not be within the fine dining space, but “it’s not going to be burgers” either.
The duo hasn’t decided yet if their next endeavour will carry on with the Sepia name.
Since opening in 2009, Sepia has been the recipient of a number of consumer- and industry-focused accolades, including being named Restaurant of the Year by Gault&Millau, taking out the top spot in AFR’s Top 100 Restaurants list, and being named Best Fine Dining restaurant at the Time Out Sydney Awards (all in 2015), while also earning three hats in the SMH Good Food Guide.
The fine diner was ranked 84th in the 2015 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and in late November 2014 earned considerable praise from acclaimed chef Eric Ripert, who dining there while in Australia filming an episode for his TV series, Avec Eric.
“I had the good fortune of dining at Sepia and experienced one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. I have to say, right now, Sepia is certainly one of the top five restaurants in the world by any measure. Chef Martin Benn just may well be the next Robuchon. Few chefs have the ability to deliver flavour as well as it presents, and Martin’s traditional techniques, use of sustainable ingredients and locally sourced produce, coupled with smart molecular that enhanced versus overwhelmed, sets a new standard in the culinary world,” Ripert said.