On the eve of opening his first Canberra restaurant, Carlotta, restaurateur Chris Lucas has doubled down on the nation’s capital, snapping up the site of the failed Botswana Butchery.

“It only traded for a couple of months,” Lucas says of the Canberra branch of the restaurant chain, one of the biggest hospitality group failures of 2024, a $23 million implosion that also saw closures in Sydney and Melbourne, markets where Lucas operates his Chin Chin restaurants.

Next year Lucas will open a yet-to-be-named French bistro at the site, which is close to Carlotta in the Scotts Crossing precinct. “It probably came about a little earlier than expected, but I was never going to come to Canberra to open one restaurant,” Lucas says.

Competitive advantages, such as a young demographic and high disposable income, have seen a posse of restaurateurs march on the nation’s capital. Chef Matt Moran is among them, having opened Italian steakhouse Compa in April.

“I was never going to come to Canberra to open one restaurant.”

Chris Lucas

Lucas, who operates a stable of restaurants, including Melbourne fine diner Society and steakhouse Grill Americano, says Chin Chin is the most likely of his existing brands to eventually drop in Canberra. But any action is a way off, with his focus currently on the October 21 launch of the 120-seat Carlotta.

“I want to create something new,” Lucas says. “I want it to be a Canberra restaurant. It’s a sophisticated market – there are a lot of people doing great, cool stuff.”

What Lucas will drop into Canberra is fresh mozzarella – flown in from Italy every week – and a team with plenty of local intel. Group head of culinary Mark Glenn has Canberra’s Pialligo Estate on a CV that also includes Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, and Carlotta’s head chef Brendan Hill is a local stalwart, having worked at Canberra eateries Akiba and Wilma.

While Carlotta has an Italian name and plenty of Italian classics on its opening menu, Lucas has given it a wide-ranging Mediterranean brief. “It gives us a broader brush, and the centrepiece cuisine of the Mediterranean is, in my opinion, Italian.”

A wood oven imported from Naples will pump out house-made focaccia, former Grill Americano senior sous chef Simone Giorgianni will oversee the house-made pasta, and lobster a l’Americaine and bistecca alla fiorentina will be among the big ticket items on the opening menu.

Lucas expects more operators to dip their toes in the Canberra market in the coming years.

“[Hopefully] we can bring to a sense of sophistication and culinary excellence, but blending right in with Canberra,” he says.

Carlotta will open daily from 11.30am till late from October 21.

20 Scotts Crossing, Canberra, carlotta.com.au