Grill Americano, Chris Lucas’s Swanky Venetian Grill, Touches Down in the CBD

Chris Lucas has a penchant for heritage buildings. So, the ground-floor space of the historic Qantas House – the blue-hued glassy wave on the corner of Hunter and Phillip Streets in the CBD – makes sense in his stable. And another Grill Americano, his ever-popular Melbourne restaurant, makes sense too.

“I can’t believe, right in the middle of the CBD, this has just been sitting here,” he says, gesturing around the long 170-seat space with double-height ceilings, now dressed in royal blue with terrazzo underfoot. Floor staff flit around prepping for a soft opening service, and chefs are laser-focused behind the bar.

“I think it’s the longest bar in Sydney, right. It’s like 30 metres of marble bar,” Lucas says. It starts with a seafood bar, then runs along the kitchen – where there’s a wood oven direct from Naples and a Josper grill – and wraps around into a space where there’s a “bar bar”, tables and private dining.

Everything in the swanky dining room is in service of Lucas’s lengthiest menu yet, captained by executive chef Vincenzo Ursini with “pasta guru” Simone Giorgianni working his magic for the daily-made mix of pastas. 

A crostini topped with tuna ’nduja and an anchovy kicks off the Sydney exclusives, with a golden little panzerotto (stuffed with prawns, topped with caviar) in line too. There are Melbourne favourites as well – the potato-topped focaccia and octopus carpaccio, for example, and the Venetian classic of grilled scampi on pilaf – and perfect plump orbs of buffalo mozzarella exclusively air-freighted from Italy.

“In Melbourne, the kitchen’s really tight. Whereas here, we’ve got this huge kitchen,” Lucas says. “We’ve been able to do this cool stuff. All the pasta is beautifully handmade, really beautiful tortellini, ravioli, handcut spaghettini. There’s nothing like fresh pasta, right?”

There’s also a saffron-laced seafood risotto and a 15-part premium steak menu muscling in on the surrounding CBD steak joints, like Rockpool on the same block, The International, Alfie’s, Bistecca and Eleven Barrack. To finish you’ll want the “best tiramisu in Australia” – with coffee-soaked layers reinforced by tempered chocolate – scooped tableside.

Master somm Paolo Saccone’s 10,000-bottle wine list includes “some of the rarest wines in the world”, and services any kind of diner – whether you want a $14 glass or something luxe. A 100-bottle shortlist is stocked with drops between $70 and $100.

The one menu takes the dining room from open till close, but in the new year a classic Italian breakfast spread will hit the mix: coffee, orange juice, and a mix of sandwiches, focaccia and pastries.

While there have been reports of fewer bums on CBD seats, Lucas is positive. “We think Sydney actually looks and feels busier than Melbourne at the moment. We opened our reservations here two weeks ago and in one hour we’d done like 5000 bookings. I’m of the view if the restaurants are really good and they deliver good value for money, service, beautiful fit-out, everything, there’s always a demand for that. To me, it seems really vibrant, really busy.”

And is this Grill a sign of more Lucas restaurants to come? “Well, we’ve already got Chin Chin, which has been amazingly successful up here … I’d love to open more places up here, but we’ll see how we go. People have got to take to this place, I guess. I reckon Sydney’s a great place – the weather’s definitely better.”

Grill Americano
1 Chifley Square, Sydney
(02) 7247 2200

Hours:
Daily midday–midnight 

grillamericano.com/sydney
@grillamericano