Team behind Monopole to open 120-seat grill at exclusive tech club

Australia’s first private club for entrepreneurs and investors in the tech sphere, The Pillars, opens on Barrack Street in the Sydney CBD next year. Fortunately, Sydneysiders won’t have to cough up the $20,000 annual membership fee to eat at the restaurant on the ground floor of its historic 1849 building.

The Herald can reveal chef Brent Savage and sommelier Nick Hildebrandt’s Bentley Restaurant Group, which has a stable of luxe restaurants including Monopole and King Clarence, will open a 120-seat contemporary grill in the space where Seta restaurant briefly traded before closing as a casualty of the COVID business environment.

Savage says the yet-to-be-named restaurant will launch in early 2025 beneath The Pillars, the brainchild of a group that includes the founder of outsourcing company Airtasker, Jonathan Lui, and Cheryl Mack, chief executive of investment platform Aussie Angels.

The space will be separate from the club and open to the public. However, it will be the exclusive caterer to the club.

Next-wave private clubs are about to arrive with a bang. After years of industry anticipation, a new batch has locked in on Australia.

The wine-focused 67 Pall Mall, which has clubs in London, Singapore and Switzerland, will open in Melbourne in mid-2025 with a hatted chef rumoured to be guiding its menu.

Plans for global brand Soho House to push into the Australian market and open at 256 Crown Street in Darlinghurst were delayed by complaints, but the City of Sydney confirmed its revised development application was approved in June.

The new Bentley Group restaurant is cleverly positioned to tap into the burgeoning private club market, with The Pillars’ well-heeled members on its doorstep.

The Pillars site is undergoing a $10 million renovation. When it opens, members will be able to refresh themselves in ice plunge baths, relax on the roof terrace or hit the books in the library. They’ll also be able to pop downstairs for a bite at the Bentley grill.

“We’ve been trying to secure this site ever since the closure of Seta, as we believe that it has the bones to become one of Sydney’s great restaurants,” Savage says.

The $6 million Seta closed in early 2023, following a rocky launch two years earlier affected by lockdowns and travel restrictions that left its Italian head chef unable to enter Australia.

Despite closing its upmarket Cirrus Dining in Barangaroo last month after failing to strike a deal on a new lease, Bentley’s owners remain bullish about the Sydney CBD.

“After opening King Clarence late last year, and evolving Monopole earlier this year, we’re seeing renewed energy in the CBD and we’re excited to add another venue to our group,” Savage says.