Brisbane offshoot for Sydney's Otto Ristorante

Otto Ristorante stalwart Will Cowper will move from Sydney to front the kitchen at the Queensland offshoot of the Woolloomooloo restaurant, which opens in Brisbane next month.

The Brisbane launch will be the first outside New South Wales for the Fink Group, also behind Quay and Bennelong restaurants, but it mightn't be the last.

Japan is also on the long-term radar. John Fink says Brisbane was chosen for its "upside" and Japan has similar appeal. "Tokyo and Kyoto have lots of crappy Italian places. It's like the early days of Thai food here in the 1980s," he says.

Cowper's brief at Otto in Brisbane is a tweak on the Sydney original. "If Sydney is based loosely on the north of Italy, Brisbane will have more southern influences. It's a hotter climate," Fink says.

The fourth-floor restaurant, at 480 Queen Street in Brisbane, has river views. It opens in mid-June.

"Otto is the obvious brand to take elsewhere," he says. "I don't think you could replicate Firedoor, and Quay is Quay is Quay."