Watch Sepia chef Martin Benn make three kinds of amazing sashimi

Award-winning chef Martin Benn is renowned for the seafood dishes at Sepia, his three-hat Sydney restaurant - but he hasn't always had been keen to work with marine life.

Benn, who is from a small fishing town in England called Hastings, started working in pubs from the age of 12 and eventually moved to London, where he encountered the two worst jobs he'd experienced as a chef.

"One was cleaning scampi. They were live and the shells were super hard and they'd just tear your fingers apart. You'd just have to peel kilos and kilos of them," he says.

"The other one was cleaning scallops - live scallops. You'd be in the basement, cleaning and removing all the guts from the scallop; it was so cold, it was minus degrees and you wouldn't be able to feel your fingers. So there was numbness of fingers and then your fingers were also cut up from all your langoustines."

While running Sepia in Sydney has not led to near frost-bite, there have been many tough moments.

"How naïve I was when I first opened my own restaurant, seven years ago - when you think everything is going to be super easy. The reality was different," he says. "I remember nights when we would set the restaurant up, both sides of the restaurant, and we'd be packing it down, because we had no customers at all. It's pretty soul-destroying to have that. But you have to keep persevering and be better – no compromising."

This paid off as Sepia ended up as Restaurant of the Year in the 2012 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and, every year since, it has scored three hats. It was also shortlisted as Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year in the latest Good Food Guide awards.

In the featured video, Benn - who was named Chef of the Year in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2011 - shows how he makes three incredible sashimi dishes from his Sepia menu.

"The idea for the dishes was based upon the Japanese ideal of eating kaiseki cuisine: a few small courses to start to build one's appetite. I based them on seafood, as I think it is a great way to start a meal and to showcase [what] we have access to."

This is what he creates in the video.

Saikou salmon, smoked roe, sudachi, chrysanthemum petals

"Saikou salmon (NZ alpine salmon) is sliced extremely thinly, we smoke roe and wrap it into the centre of the salmon. It is then coated in a very thin layer of gel made of sudachi (a small lime from Japan) and finished with chrysanthemum petals that are grown especially for me. This is fun to eat and the roe pops in your mouth with a salty briny flavor from the roe. The sudachi helps clean and refresh the palate at the same time."

Tuna, water chestnut, nori, dashi jelly

"Sustainably caught MSC tuna is served in a cylinder of water chestnut and nori crisp - this is made by blending water chestnuts with nori seaweed and dehydrating them, it then is fried, shaped and also filled with a rich cream made of jamon Iberico and topped with a jelly that's made from bonito stock. For me, tuna dashi and pork is a match made in heaven!"

Bonito, roasted chicken cream, Yasa caviar, linaria flower

"Bonito is one of our most underrated, sustainable and great eating fish species ... I refer to it as the chicken of the sea. With that in mind, I created a dish that paired it with the flavours of roasted chicken. After filleting, we sear the skin of the bonito over a very hot grill plate to add a smokiness to it. It is then sliced thinly and rolled up. A cream is made up of whole roasted chickens that is blended until smooth and filled into the centre of the bonito roll. We add smoked soy sauce and dust the bonito with chicken powder that is also made up of whole roasted chickens that are then dehydrated and powdered. The bonito is then finished with some Yasa caviar and linaria flowers."