Olive restaurant in Hawker reopens after arson attacks see family's two restaurants burn in one night

The family's two Olive restaurants, in Hawker and Mawson, were destroyed in March when they were targeted in arson attacks.

Since then the family has been working hard to reopen Hawker, which was significantly damaged but not totally destroyed like the Mawson premises.

Dimitri Yianoulakis, who owns the restaurant with his brother George and mother Aleka, said the relaunch was an opportunity to thank the Canberra community who have supported them since the fires.

"We want to say a huge thank you for the support, the well wishes and for sticking by us," Mr Yianoulakis said.

"It's just so good to be loved in the community, it's a real confidence boost."

The relaunch gives the family a chance to focus on something positive and move on from the "heartbreaking" fires which crippled them.

"Mum has been affected the worst," Mr Yianoulakis said.

"[The restaurants were] the main source of income for the family.

"We all have mortgages, we all have bills."

But while the family have had to work off their own back and support the rebuild while insurance was settled, Mr Yianoulakis said the generosity of the community and tradespeople who threw themselves into the project made the relaunch possible.

"Mum started cleaning the day after," he said.

"She was here through it all making coffees for the tradies."

Mr Yianoulakis remembers getting the call in the middle of the night that the Hawker restaurant was on fire, racing over and witnessing the damage first hand. Thanks to a quick thinking neighbour, much of the structure was saved when he heard a noise and raced to put out the fire as best he could.

However, while in Hawker Mr Yianoulakis got another call telling him about the Mawson fire.

"By the time I got there it was well alight and you could see the flames from the street," he recalled.

"It was like my soul was ripped out."

Mr Yianoulakis said with both restaurants going up in flames it was clearly a targeted attack, but he's none the wiser why someone attacked the businesses.

And while he admits that thought scares him, he said he hopes someone is brought to justice soon and he will continue on returning the restaurants to their former glory.

An ACT Policing spokesman said investigations into the fires remain ongoing. Mr Yianoulakis said a lot of footage had been recovered from the restaurants and "somebody out there knows something".

While the focus is currently on the Hawker relaunch, Mr Yianoulakis said the family was in talks to get the Mawson restaurant back in business.

He said the layout at the rejuvenated Hawker restaurant will have much the same layout as previously but there's "more of a Mediterranean feel" and "rustic flair" now.

They've added some items to the menu to offer a good mixture of various Mediterranean cuisines and he said the team was conscious of offering meals at an affordable price point.

And the restaurant will be opening a bit earlier in the evening for dinner to cater for young families, "so everyone can come and enjoy a home cooked meal".

The restaurant will be open from Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. And although the fires had no doubt set them back, the Yianoulakis family are not deterred from achieving their long term goal of bringing their food to every corner of Canberra.

"We're just so relieved and ecstatic to be getting back and doing what we do best."