Australia's first artificial intelligence restaurant concept, Luminary, opened on 29 July as a week-long pop-up restaurant in Sydney's north.
A Rafi restaurant the Australian hospitality group that also owns the Luminary concept, is the winner of a previously announced competition. The winner was selected from hundreds of ideas and will now welcome guests to a real-life dining experience for a limited time.
The concept was created by a Perth-based woman, Stefanie Wee, who used ChatGPT and Canva AI image generation tools to explore the theme of ‘the art of light’. The AI-generated menus, lighting and interior design are now being applied to a restaurant space. And the food is inspired by the five basic elements.
But the menu is designed by experienced chefs: the Applejack's Culinary Director, Patrick Friesen, and Rafi's executive chef Matias Cilloniz collaborate to create dishes that represent the five elements. For example, water is served with mussel ponzu, sea grapes, caper leaves and seaweed. Land is represented by fried onions with pine nuts, halibut and Pyenganna Cheddar cheese. The fire is grilled lamb with mint salsa verde and quince.
To create the concept of Luminary, Wee gave ChatGPT starting points such as ‘high-end’, ‘experimental’ and ‘unique’. The results were then used to create visual images of the concept using Canva. These images were then brought to life by the interdisciplinary media art group Reelize Studio. The unique atmosphere lighting, fog and LED technology to create a truly unique atmosphere.
