Lillie Thompson
Lunetta is Italian for “little moon”, which is how many Canberrans have seen this striking modernist building hovering in the sky for more than 60 years. The two-storey landmark designed by Czech architect Miles Jakl opened as the Carousel Restaurant in 1963, and sits atop Red Hill like a retro spaceship crowned by a sharp pyramid. It reopened in November 2024 after several years in development under new owners Tracy Keeley – previously behind cafés at the National Library and the National Botanic Gardens – and her sons, Matthew and Nick.
The dodecagon-shaped structure has had a dazzling overhaul from design firm ACME (responsible for hotspots including Gimlet and Margaret). The venue is split in two, with a casual trattoria on the ground floor, and fine-dining upstairs. Here you’ll find one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the country right now, the heritage interior revived by pale green carpet, soft leather banquettes, terrazzo flooring, timber tables, and a glinting copper bar, all riffing on the colours of the Australian bush outside. Then there’s the view: angular prisms framing the landmarks of Canberra below, like the Hollywood Hills meets Mad Men.
Executive chef Tristan Rebbettes has experience at Sydney stalwarts Cafe Paci and Saint Peter, and more recently at wedding favourite Mona Farm. The loosely Italian menu has big city polish, with antipasto to start – three types of caviar, oysters from Merimbula – followed by a tight selection of starters, mains, and sides. An icy house Martini arrives on a silver tray, and the extensive wine list skews Italian but features French, Australian and New Zealand bottles for a spectrum of budgets.
The food complements the setting without scaring the more conservative clientele. A slab of house-baked bread is a mandatory opener, the crusty sourdough sticky with bitter molasses spread with whipped Pepe Saya butter. A circle of raw beef tartare is tweezered with rings of onion, boosted by a delicious cracker that’s part papadum, part seaweed snack. Pasta is a standout, five glossy spheres of ravioli plump with ricotta in oil-streaked tomato and fermented chilli sauce. Later, an overdressed cucumber and fennel salad cuts through a thick disc of roast porchetta with gnarled crackling and an intense black garlic gel.
The room is rammed with Canberra bigwigs on our Thursday visit, but clears out entirely by 10pm – the slightly remote location means guests are eager to get back down the hill.
While there’s a sense that Lunetta is still waxing to its full potential, it’s a little moon on the rise.
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