Why Martin Place is set to become Sydney’s hot new go-to hospitality hub

With the new Martin Place Metro station set to open in July, hospitality operators are gambling on a boom in business in and around the new train stop. Mediterranean restaurant Martin 21 and its cafe sidekick, Marty’s, will open alongside Melbourne pastry mecca Lune Croissanterie at 1 Elizabeth, the sprawling development at the entrance to the station.

“I feel like it will put that part of the city on the map,” says Sebastien Lutaud, who spent years living in France, observing the impact of train movements on the ebb and flow of the restaurant businesses. The culinary director at Etymon Projects (the team behind The Charles Grand Brasserie in the city and Loulou Bistro at Lavender Bay), Lutaud believes commuter traffic and thousands of office workers in the towers above will sustain Martin 21 and Marty’s in a challenging market.

Lutaud, who says they’ve seen a recent bump in business at The Charles restaurant after a slow start to the year for trade across the Sydney CBD, is opening in an area where hospitality operators remain bullish. Martin 21 is in a development that fronts Elizabeth, Hunter and Castlereagh Streets.

When the 130-seat Martin 21 opens in spring, it’ll have plenty of company. A high-profile restaurateur is tipped to be close on a deal to open across the street, and House Made Hospitality, the group behind Hinchcliff House, is opening four venues, also in spring, at the Wentworth Hotel site.

There’s little doubt the precinct is in the midst of a building boom. Caterpillar Club opened late last year on Martin Place’s northern edge and is one of Sydney’s red-hot venues, while Latin American restaurant Morena recently swung open its doors at the western end of Martin Place, in the GPO Building.

Frank Dilernia, one of Sydney’s bar pioneers, will also join the spring launch party with the opening of Epula restaurant, on the corner of Pitt Street and Martin Place.

Dilernia, whose stable of Sydney venues includes Circular Quay sherry bar Tapavino and CBD restaurant Balcon, is undeterred by difficult trading conditions, confident in the area’s potential as the great untapped hospitality hub of the Sydney CBD. The area has no shortage of operators ready to try to fully activate it.