The demonstrative Greek-Australian of television's MasterChef fame will close the high-end, 90-seat Flinders Street restaurant in March, but has reassured customers that in its wake he will create ''the best Greek restaurant in the world''.

It's name will be - wait for it - ''The Press Club''. But it will be fancier than its predecessor, and in a much smaller space, in what is now the restaurant's adjacent bar, Little Press, with room for only 30 diners. Challenging the likes of Vue de Monde, and with prices travelling in the same stratospheric $300-a-head zone, it will aim for ''conceptual'' cuisine that is close to Calombaris' Hellenic heart.

Most of the existing restaurant will be carved off for a lower-budget souvlaki bar, called Gazi.

Calombaris dismisses rumours that his restaurant empire is in financial strife, stating the motive behind the changes was chasing his ''culinary dreams'' by returning to his small-kitchen roots.

With the economy staggering and fine dining falling out of fashion, has Calombaris gambled too much on the reinvention of his celebrated restaurant, awarded two chefs' hats in The Age Good Food Guide?

Hospitality consultant Tony Eldred thinks the upmarket move is brave.

''I wouldn't advise anyone to open a restaurant like this in Melbourne,'' he says. ''There are already too many restaurants at the top end. If this one is successful, it will knock one of the others off.''

He points to a basic axiom of hospitality: ''Feed the poor go home rich, feed the rich go home poor.''

Calombaris is undaunted, inspired by memories of his culture and childhood. One dish will be ''Smashing Plates'', a dessert where staff will shatter a meringue ''plate'' directly onto the dining table, then build a newfangled pavlova among the shards.

Another is inspired by the constant threats of Calombaris' mother to wash his mouth out with soap.

Now, he hopes to clean up with an edible facsimile of a cake of soap, garnished with mastic suds and olive-oil exfoliant.

''I want to fuse my cultures like never before,'' says Calombaris of the cuisine he calls ''Gringlish''.