Restaurateur Chris Lucas on the joy of an uncomplicated itinerary and his love of the Greek islands
Leading Australian restaurateur Chris Lucas on the art of switching off – and the stripped back appeal of a lesser known Greek island.
For restaurateur Chris Lucas, holidays hold a curious place in the luxury hierarchy.
The man behind stand-out Melbourne rooms such as Kisume, Maison Batard, Chin Chin and Society, and who elevated the Sydney CBD dining scene with Grill Americano last November — champions breaks with a certain zeal, eyeing the vital reset and chance to escape the relentless demands of service, staffing and success. He’ll also admit that time proves an ultimate indulgence. Still, he managed some prior to opening the doors on the NSW outpost of Grill — fondly recalling an extended European sojourn and what proved a memorable week on the Greek island of Kefalonia.
“I love, really love, going to the Greek Islands. My background is Greek and what I love doing is fishing around the not so popular Greek islands. And last (northern hemisphere) summer I went to a beautiful little Greek island called Kefalonia.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“It’s on the east coast of Greece, the side that’s facing Italy and I’d never been before; it was made famous in the movie Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
“It’s actually quite different from all the other famous Greek islands like Mykonos and that — it’s not arid, it’s very green. It’s just a beautiful island, beautiful pine trees and so forth, it’s hilly and has these beautiful beaches. It’s also very, very quiet — there’s not a lot of tourists there.
“I like fishing out the old tavernas and so I did, I found one. I was there, sitting out right on the beach — it must have been 3pm in the arvo — and there I am on the sand and the owner comes up to me, he’s this big Greek guy with a massive moustache and I tried to speak in Greek, and my Greek’s not so good. And he goes, in an Australian accent. ‘You Aussie mate?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m Australian-Greek.’
“He lived in Melbourne for 18 years and we start chatting and I got to befriend this guy. And I don’t know whether because I was from Melbourne but we struck up a bit of a friendship and I hung out there for about a week with him and his mother, she’s doing the cooking and some of the food we ate — it was amazing. Fresh calamari straight out of the ocean, just beautiful fish — it was picture perfect. And it was so memorable and enjoyable because these sorts of experiences just don’t exist anymore, or they’re harder and harder to find.
“I’m talking about these experiences where you’ve got a family, you know, mum’s out the back cooking, the son’s running around out the front, and the fish you’re eating is literally straight off the boat — it takes me back to the way Greek islands used to be before mass tourism sort of changed everything. Who wants to go to Greece and go to a Nobu? Not me. “And the bill — every time I’d eat at this place on the beach it was like €20 — it’s embarrassingly cheap and the way Greece used to be. “So, I like to get off the beaten track and look at some of these beautiful places that are affordable and still very authentic. I love holidaying in these sort of places.
“We drove around the island. Stayed at all these little places. Ate well. Met people. Just hopped around whenever we wanted, hopped around all over the island — it was so beautiful. “It was a great holiday because it didn’t involve being at an airport every third or fourth day. I could properly explore and relax. Yeah, it was perfect. lucascollective.com
