Orto have done better

Proving it's one of Melbourne's harder-to-nail restaurant spaces, George Sykiotis's recently refurbished Hawthorn Italian cantina Orto has closed to make way for a new venture.

Made Establishment partner Sykiotis is no stranger to hit restaurants through his links with Gazi, Hellenic Republic and Jimmy Grants, but the Hawthorn business, which he owns separately from the group, has struggled. "Hawthorn's changing," he says. "The focus isn't on night-time dining."

The space opened as Canvas restaurant in 2007 and Sykiotis bought it in early 2011, transforming it into sleek, modern Chester White with Simon Arkless in the kitchen. After just a year, Chester White shut, Arkless moved to newly one-hatted All Saints in Rutherglen and the restaurant became Orto in May 2012, with a kitchen garden on the balcony and Italian chef Luigi Buono in the kitchen.

Sykiotis says he's now considering a couple of options and confirming what he will open in the next month at 302 Burwood Road will be something "totally different".