Sydney has lost a symbol of cheap eats and billion-dollar views. The terrace cafe at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay will reopen as an upscale restaurant later this month.

The fourth-floor dining room, overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, was eagerly used by both foreign and local tourists who wanted to eat a sandwich and admire the panoramic view of the harbour.

In May, the museum announced the appointment of Victoria-based The Big Group as its new hospitality partner. When the group opened a café in a new ground-floor space in June and closed its upstairs terrace café for renovations, speculation about a secret “new hospitality offering” began to circulate.

The answer is Canvas, which will open in late September with a grand opening next month. While it’s a price increase over the old MCA cafe, Canvas’ expected price tag of three courses for under $100 is competitive in an area where a four-course lunch menu at nearby Quay restaurant costs $220.

“It’s like art, not everyone is going to like it,” says Bruce Keebaugh, founder of Big Group, of the restaurant’s makeover. Refusing to blame customers who hovered over a single purchase and wandered through the cafe, or people who used it for business meetings, Keebaugh argues, “It’s too exclusive a space to give away (the lower price).”

Despite the change, Keebaugh doesn’t anticipate big profits at the experimental Canvas, whose name is a nod to the museum’s artistic surroundings. “A blank canvas,” he says of the concept, which will rotate the chef’s talents in his kitchen.

Canvas has already tapped former Tetsuya guest chef Josh Raine for an initial three-month stint. “We want it to be a space where we can showcase emerging talent, or we might look to bring in someone like Skye Gyngell (a Sydney-based chef based in the U.K.) who we’ve worked with before to do a short-term residency,” Keebaugh says.

Keebaugh also wants Canvas to become a space where international chefs interested in opening a restaurant in Australia can try their hand at the market right next to the harbour.

“It will be open for lunch only; at night we will use it as an event space,” says Keebaugh. Big Group started out doing big events, catering and venues like the Glasshouse on the Yarra River in Melbourne before expanding into Sydney.

“The new coffee shop downstairs (MCA) has been really successful and has attracted a new demographic,” Keebaugh says.

Rising costs and high interest rates are weighing on upscale local restaurants, with closures ranging from Red Bird to Bar Grazie. Lucky Kwong, Tetsuya’s and Cirrus Dining are all closing for various other reasons. So is now the right time to open a fine-dining restaurant when the race for cheaper hospitality products is raging?

“Call it a great experience,” Keebaugh says. “And when everyone else was going left, I was always going right.”

“Will Canvas be the biggest money maker? Probably not. Will it tell a great story?” Keebaugh hopes the answer is yes.