Fine dining – not food courts, fancy end-of-trip facilities or daycare centres – can be the saviours of the country’s beleaguered office towers and city centres struggling to return to their pre-COVID-19 bustle, successful restaurateur Chris Lucas says.

Mr Lucas, who operates Melbourne establishments Chin Chin and Kisume on the city’s popular Flinders Lane dining strip, has already witnessed the impact high-end restaurants can have on two of the city’s most important office buildings, 80 Collins Streetand 101 Collins Street.