The inner west is getting an early Christmas present today with the opening of the highly anticipated Queens Hotel at Enmore.

Owned by the hospitality group with the golden touch, Merivale, the Enmore Rd venue houses a late-night Asian bistro, Queen Chow, and an upstairs cocktail bar, The Smelly Goat.

Queen Chow serves Cantonese cuisine, in a Hong Kong street food style. The kitchen is headed up by powerhouse trio, Christopher Hogarth and Patrick Friesen of Papi Chulo fame, and dumpling master from Mr Wong, Eric Koh.

The three chefs have spent a year soaking up the flavours and inspiration of Hong Kong’s dai pai dongs.

“The dai pai dongs are where everyday people go to eat. It’s not tricked up food – it’s just delicious. We love Asian food and we’ve tried to emulate and enhance the dishes by using the best quality products we can get our hands on.”

If you’re after drinks instead of food, upstairs cocktail bar, The Smelly Goat, is as eclectic as its name suggests. The unusual cocktail menu created by bar manager Harrison Westlake uses ingredients as diverse as carrot and capsicum, as well as “Crunchy Nut milk”.

Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes is reportedly excited to have moved into Sydney’s inner west. When he paid $11 million for the site in 2015, he had been prowling the venue for over a year, before pouncing when the time was right.

“For me it’s like Surry Hills used to be,” Hemmes said at the time. “It’s a really interesting demographic, lots of artists and younger couples.”

And Queens Hotel is right down the road from The Enmore Theatre, one of Sydney’s favourite live music venues, so will no doubt see the pre- and post-gig crowd eating delectable dim sum and getting their Smelly Goat on.

Queen Chow, 2/167 Enmore Rd, Enmore, merivale.com.au/queenshotel