A long time ago – four years – restaurateur Chris Lucas (Chin Chin, Baby Pizza, Kong, Hawker Hall, Kisumé) dropped a bombshell. He’d lured chef Martin Benn and front-of-house star Vicki Wild, two of the biggest names in Sydney hospitality, down south to open a new restaurant, Society.

In 10 days it’ll finally be here.

“I’m excited. It’s been a long time coming,” Lucas tells Broadsheet. “The original concept, of wanting to create a world-class dining destination in Melbourne, that hasn’t changed.”

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Coronavirus notwithstanding, Society was always going to take time to bring to life. The Collins Street address contains four distinct spaces: the Japanese-influenced Society Dining Room, a bar named Society Lounge and the more British/pan-Asian Lillian Terrace, as well as yakitori bar Yakimono.

The first two spaces open on July 22. Reservations for the dining room open today, while the bar accepts walk-ins only. The remaining two venues will open separately between now and the year’s end.

Benn, who’s known for his precisely plated, avant-garde Japanese food, has spent at least two years in the test kitchen, experimenting and refining. Few chefs ever get this type of opportunity – to cook for so long without customers in the picture.

We’ll be able to taste the results soon, but his opening menu is definitely intriguing. There’s a neat puck of diced bonito, crowned with a trembling pile of roast chicken jellies. A similar-looking dish pairs a rondel of finely diced albacore with rhubarb and shiso, a Japanese herb.

Two enigmatic desserts have also been revealed. Maple is a cluster of edible leaves in a jelly pool flavoured with sauternes, a French dessert wine. Metropolis is an evolution of Chocolate Forest Floor, one of Benn’s most famous dishes, now with an iridescent, angular blue shell that references Society’s facade.

In the bar, the biggest talking point is the five-strong Martini selection, including an Ossetra caviar Martini served with a one-bite caviar pretzel and smoked cream cheese devised by Benn.

There’s also a 6000-bottle wine cellar Lucas says is “one of the most important cellars in Australian history”. Overseen by Loic Avril (ex-Dinner by Heston), it’ll offer Dom Perignon for 55 bucks a glass, and 40 significant vintages of renowned wines tapped via vacuum-sealed Coravin machine so they can also be sold in single glasses.

The sense of luxury isn’t limited to what’s on plates and in glasses. Architecture firm Russell & George designed “every element” of Society, from chairs to chandeliers. Via marble, glass, velvet and more, the fit-out references a number of design schools: art deco, mid-century, art nouveau and brutalism. Of all this, the vast, occult-looking chandeliers, hand-made by Mark Douglass, will be the biggest talking points, alongside ghoulish works by Victorian artist David Noonan.

“I wanted it to have a real quintessential Melbourne look. A very fresh, young Australian look,” Lucas says. “Melbourne is a very sophisticated dining city. But it’s also a very egalitarian dining city. The design had to straddle both of those areas. I think it’s done it.”

Society opens on July 22.

Society
80 Collins Street, Melbourne

Hours
Daily 5.30pm to late (from July 22)

societyrestaurant.com