Lately it feels like precincts are popping up all over Sydney. But the hospitality hub growing off Cleveland Street is emerging as the biggest of the year. Here’s what to expect.
The $500-million Wunderlich Lane precinct on the border of Redfern and Surry Hills started its slow reveal in late November, with the first restaurants opening in a development which will eventually include seven eateries and bars, five-star The EVE Hotel, and retail including homewares hub Saardé and Clovelly-born salon The Parlour Room.
The candy-hued South East-Asian restaurant Island Radio was first to welcome diners. Executive chef Andrianto ‘Andy’ Wirya and team have burst out of the gates with a menu that flits between Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, including one of the city’s best-value banquets – with six dishes for just $44.5 per person. Upstairs bar Baptist St. Rec. Club will join it next year.
Opening a week after Island Radio, Olympus comes from the folks behind Potts Point’s The Apollo and Cho Cho San, and Brisbane’s Greca and Yoko. Under a retractable glass oculus roof, with seating curved around a mammoth 50-year-old bougainvillea tree craned in through the void, it’s one of the most striking dining rooms Sydney has gained all year. Ester and Baba’s Place graduate Ozge Kalvo runs the state-of-the-art kitchen, in which the woodfire oven reigns.
Hot on the heels of Olympus and Island Radio will be Regina La Pizzeria, opening in December, where the LuMi Dining and Lode Pies and Pastries team will show off a whole new skill set.
Opening in the new year, R by Raita Noda delivers an expanded version of tiny eight-seater original Raita Noda, nearby in Surry Hills. Daytime hours offer an a la carte menu of top-end Japanese cuisine, with an omakase experience from the top chef at night.
The EVE Hotel is pipped to open in February. The 102-room luxury boutique hotel with its rooftop pool, poolside restaurant and lush landscaping comes from TFE Hotels.
Bar Julius, the lobby eatery at The EVE Hotel, will be run by the Liquid & Larder group (of Bistecca, The Gidley, The Rover and Alfie’s), which will also lead the yet-to-be-revealed Mexican restaurant on the rooftop beside the pool.
And, just because no Sydney dining precinct is complete without one, a Gelato Messina will open by end of year.
