Image: Jack Henry
THE FORMER QANTAS HOUSE at No. 1 Chifley Square has lived several lives since Felix Tavener’s sweeping glass façade rose above the city in the 1950s. Office block. Retail shell. Long vacancy. Now, after nearly a decade sitting dormant under fluorescent fit-outs, the curved frontage opens onto something far more theatrical: the Sydney chapter of Grill Americano, Chris Lucas’ Venetian steakhouse concept that first took hold in Melbourne three years ago.
“When I first walked into the space it was a Specsavers, and people thought I was mad to put a restaurant in,” Lucas recalls. “It had been empty for nearly 10 years, but I knew instinctively that it was something special. The incredible soaring ceilings, the grand windows, the curved façade, it all combines to align beautifully with the restaurant’s air of Venetian glamour and the space carries the interior design so well.”
Image: Myles Klaus
That sense of architectural inevitability runs through the Sydney iteration. Lucas has made a career of reading buildings as creative prompts rather than blank canvases. “For me, the buildings themselves dictate a lot of the design decisions,” he says.
While Grill Americano Melbourne established the DNA – plush navy upholstery, halo chandeliers, white-jacket service – Sydney was never intended as a replica. “I really wanted this restaurant to feel like it has its own identity… while the brand cements certain elements, like the plush navy design or iconic halo chandeliers, the end result here is definitely a lighter, breezier interpretation.”
The heritage-listed structure has been restored collaboratively by Lucas, wife and creative director Sarah Lucas, and long-time design partner Samantha Eades. A 30-metre marble bar anchors the dining room, while the open kitchen, with its Josper grill and wood-fired oven, creates sightlines across the full depth of the space. Two private dining rooms seat 16 and 18 guests respectively, adding intimacy to the expansive room. The venue also includes a dedicated daily espresso bar offering, extending the restaurant’s rhythm beyond conventional dining hours.
Image: Jason Loucas
As with Melbourne, Grill Americano centres on Italian steakhouse traditions filtered through a distinctly Lucas lens. But the Sydney menu tilts subtly toward the city’s dining habits. “While the menu is similar, we wanted to cater to the distinct appetite and tastes of Sydney’s dining culture,” Lucas explains. “That’s where differences like our oyster and crustacea bar come in – it’s serving the most extensive offering of oysters you’ll find in any restaurant in the city, with up to 12 varieties offered at any one time.”
The raw bar stands alongside daily-changing crudi selections, anchoring a seafood offering that leans into immediacy and freshness. It’s a counterpoint to the restaurant’s cult classics, which Lucas insists would never change: “There are signatures we could never change, like the Tiramisù, the Octopus Carpaccio and the handmade Pappardelle with Slow-Cooked Ragu.”
Sydney’s larger kitchen footprint has also enabled a deeper expansion across the menu. “Having a larger kitchen has really informed the scope of the menu and allowed us to expand and explore things in greater depth,” Lucas says. “A bigger team of chefs, a dialled-up pasta program where we’re making every one of our pastas in-house each week, a larger bistecca offering across single cuts and specialty share dishes.”
Image: Jason Loucas
The kitchen is led by executive chef Vincenzo Ursini, whose background includes acclaimed restaurants such as Ristorante Reale, Le Calandre and Mugaritz, alongside Lucas Collective head of culinary Damian Snell and pasta specialist Simone Giorgianni. For Sydney, the brief was continuity balanced with specificity. “The menu at Grill Americano Sydney celebrates simplicity, seasonality and the beauty of great produce,” Ursini says. “We’ve brought across the dishes that define the Grill Americano experience, but we’ve also created new ones that reflect Sydney’s influence and access to exceptional ingredients.”
Those Sydney-only dishes include prawn panzerotto crowned with Oscietra caviar, tuna ’nduja and anchovy crostini, handmade bufala ricotta ravioli, and a Sicilian-style seafood risotto layered with saffron and chilli – plates designed to sit comfortably alongside tableside tiramisù theatrics and the composed ritual of carving knives in the dining room.
Nowhere is Grill Americano’s reputation more closely tied than to its bistecca program. Sydney’s iteration has been more than a simple menu transplant. “Sydney’s bistecca program was carefully developed over 12 months and we’re proud to be showcasing some incredible new local producers,” Lucas says. “The approach remains the same… sourcing the highest quality of cuts available in Australia.”
Image: Jack Henry
Among the centrepieces is a rarely seen specialty steak. “We’re also excited to be championing some innovative specialty products you won’t see elsewhere; like… the New York Cut Striploin of Grappa-Infused Dry-Aged Chauvel Beef,” Lucas says. “The citrus-fed Chauvel beef is exceptional to start, and then it’s taken to new heights of complexity with the addition of grappa late in the dry-ageing period.”
Wine, curated by Master Sommelier Paolo Saccone, leans classic with breadth across Italian regions and international benchmarks. Cocktails nod to Venetian ritual — including an homage to Harry’s Bar’s famous Bellini — alongside the Marigold Sgroppino, a lightly sweet hybrid of drink and dessert.
Grill Americano Sydney also marks the first opening since the Lucas Restaurants group rebranded as Lucas Collective. A shift Lucas describes as formalising something already in motion. “I think the shift to Lucas Collective captures the idea of our continuous growth and evolution… the spaces and experiences we’re creating,” he says. “Reimagining one of our most beloved and successful concepts for a new city and new audience of diners is obviously challenging, but to be able to do that well… speaks to our evolution and our team’s collective talents.”
After years of requests to bring the Venetian steakhouse north, Lucas finally made the move. “Three years later, I’m thrilled to be bringing that idea to life,” he says, “reimagining Melbourne’s best-loved Italian steakhouse in a way that honours the original but also captures Sydney’s unique energy and appetite for dining.”
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