The next generation of restaurateurs are ready to keep Perth well fed and watered

While iconic South Perth restaurant Coco’s is closing after 35 years on January 19, a new guard of restaurateurs will ensure Perth diners remain well fed and watered. At the forefront of the next generation is Sesh Mafia Group, a gang of like-minded venue managers, bartenders and chefs that opened its first venue, modern Asian diner Shui in Subiaco, in September 2022. The hospitality posse made a splash in 2024 with underground Japanese bar and diner Papi Katsu in the CBD and Margot’s wine bar on William Street. Spearheaded by venue operators Ben Tua and Phil Weber, plus acclaimed chefs Chase Weber and Leigh Power, Sesh Mafia has even bigger plans for 2025. On Friday, they poured the first tequila shots at Mexican-themed small bar Lupe’s Cerveceria in Brookfield Place in the city. Fitted out with Mexican movie posters, hot sauces and garish lighting (especially in the disco dunnies), the long underground space is run by Phil Weber, a veteran of popular Perth bars such as Si Paradiso, El Grotto, Market Grounds and Clarence’s. Tua said he owned the space, which neighbours Papi Katsu, well before opening Shui. After Lupe’s is up and running, Sesh Mafia have plans to open Larry’s, a charcoal chicken joint behind Shui in Subiaco inspired by Tua’s foolhardy trip to Palestine in 2023 and his love of Larry David-starring sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm. Chef Weber said the dine-in and takeaway restaurant could become a chain. Asked how many venues would be too many, Tua said “around 50”. The bartender-turnedc-bar-owner said that after opening popular venues for other operators, it was now time for the Sesh Mafia crew to put their own “fresh spin” on Perth hospitality. “This is all we know how to do. This is our only skill set — we open venues,” Tua joked. “There is a changing of the guard,” Weber said. “You’re seeing all these institutions that have been open for 20, 30 years at the end now.” He added that in a market dominated by east coast pub chains with cookie-cutter menus and drinks lists, it is important to not play it safe. “We went to open venues that people are excited to come to,” Weber said. “It’s not a new bar that’s exactly the same as 10 other new bars.” The hospitality professionals said it was also important to stand out to survive in a highly competitive industry with tight margins. “The sad truth of hospitality is that not many (venues) make it past their fifth birthday,” Tua said. “Not many make it to their second.” Weber added: “if you’re not in the top 25 per cent in Perth, you fail”. The hospo honchos have also joined forces with Northbridge bar baron Clint Nolan to redesign and relaunch his 1000-capacity cocktail and wine garden Henry Summer, which opened in late 2017. And WA-based property group Hawaiian has recruited Sesh Mafia to develop a “keystone” rooftop bar at their Laneway and Town Square redevelopment at Claremont Quarter. Tua and Weber said it was “humbling” to be headhunted by Hawaiian. “They want a keystone venue to really bring Claremont back to life,” Weber said, adding that the western suburb’s astronomical rents meant they had previously “avoided Claremont like the plague”. Still, he explained, the 500-600 capacity venue, which will star award-winning chef Shane Middleton, is “the probably the biggest risk we’ve taken”. Sesh Mafia’s rooftop bar is not the only venue opening in Claremont this year. The West understands that the former site of the legendary Club Bay View and The Avenue will be reborn as a wine bar, while 150-seat Mediterranean-inspired restaurant Avalon will open at The Grove Residences by Blackburne in early February. Three Pound Group, the pub operators behind The Camfield, The Elford, The Reveley and Good Company, and beer giants Lion have teamed up to launch Little Creatures Elizabeth Quay, a big brewpub at Nine the Esplanade due to pour its first pale ales in the second half of 2025. Boasting more than 500sqm of internal dining, brewing and taproom space plus a 390sqm alfresco area, the venue is Little Creature’s first WA expansion since it began in Fremantle a quarter of a century ago. Already operating 26 venues in WA, The Australian Venue Co. empire will continue to grow with the redevelopment of 600-capacity city venue Lil’s, formerly Tiger Lil’s, which should reopen in January. Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group plans to open new Meat & Wine Co. steakhouses in South Perth and Margaret River, as well as three Hunter & Barrel restaurants in the next few years. Following the successful launch in October of Magic Apple Wholefoods overlooking Cottesloe beach, coastal dining king George Kailis is likely to open another outlet, this time in the northern suburbs, in 2025. Kailis, who had a bumper year in 2024 thanks to Magic Apple and game-changing seaside brasserie Gibney, also told The West that he has a “mega seafood-centric concept” in the works. It’s not just Perth metro diners being spoilt for choice, with casual Mediterranean restaurant Sunsets welcoming customers at The Lodge Wadjemup on Rottnest Island and several new venues kicking off in the regions. By May, John Parker hopes to open a 40-seat fine-dining restaurant in the South West with Parker Group head of culinary Brendan Pratt and cocktail queen Elise Godwin. The venue will join The Standard and The Royal in the city, Busselton Pavilion and Dandelion in Karrinyup in Parker’s stable. The yet-to-be-named eatery will be a playground for Pratt, who said the “menu will be refined yet approachable”. The chef described it as a “look into the rich cultures that have shaped Australia’s dining scene enhanced by the best of our region’s produce and a few unique ingredients from beyond”. After earning high praise for bush tucker degustations at regional Queensland fine diner The Flackyard, which opened in 2019, owner and executive chef Nikholas Flack and his wife Emily have upped stumps for WA. The couple will soon open The Flackyard in Chidlow overlooking Lake Leschenaultia, collaborating with local producers, including First Nations owned and led businesses, for an innovative menu featuring vegan options. After starting his cheffing career at Melbourne’s famed Vue De Monde, Flack worked at State Buildings’ revered Wildflower and with eco-friendly pop-up restaurant Fervor before moving to Mackay.