Chef and restaurateur Alejandro Saravia at Martin Place,Sydney.Edwina PicklesThe Sydney restaurant will work directly with NSW farmers and producers in the same way as his Melbourne venues,but the Morena menu will lean on the Peruvian chef’s Latin American roots,sweeping everywhere from Cuba to Brazil,and of course Peru,for inspiration.
Interior details are still being finalised but architecture and design firm Ewert Leaf (Moonhouse andLune Croissanterie,Melbourne) has been briefed to add a Latin American colonial touch while maintaining the GPO building’s heritage aesthetic.
In some ways,the 220-seat Martin Place restaurant represents unfinished business for the chef. After migrating to Australia,he opened a restaurant in Surry Hills,also named Morena. While it only lasted from 2011 to 2013,it was possibly before its time.
Farmer’s Daughters in Melbourne.Bonnie Savage“Australians’ understanding of Latin American cuisine has developed in the last decade,with more restaurants opening and more travel between Australia and the Americas,” Saravia says.
After his success in Victoria,the shift back to the Sydney market could prove not only well-timed but well-placed for the chef,whose CV includes a spell at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Britain.
After a tough spell for Martin Place,which had restaurants Prime and Sosumi close during the pandemic,the precinct appears to be on the uptick,with a posse of upcoming hospitality offerings includingLune Croissanterie and the restaurant and live music venueCaterpillar Club, which opens in October.
Damian Frazzica,the executive from real estate company CBRE,which leased the Morena restaurant site,says more key hospitality signings are on the way at the GPO building.