Team behind Olympus Dining to take over two venues at Redfern’s $500m dining precinct
Lobby bar Bar Julius and rooftop Mexican restaurant Lottie are to close after just 18 months in the newly opened Wunderlich Lane development.
Redfern’s glittering new precinct, Wunderlich Lane, is set to lose two jewels in its crown with the closure of European-inspired lobby bar Bar Julius and its rooftop Mexican sibling Lottie at The Eve Hotel Sydney.
Owners neighboring venue Olympus Dining will take over both locations later this year. A spokesman for the group, which is also behind The Apollo and Cho Cho San, said they would open this year but did not provide further details. It’s highly likely that Lottie’s will move away from Mexican cuisine.
TOGA Group’s $500 million redevelopment of the former Redfern Shopping Center originally opened in late 2024. The area included a luxury boutique hotel, a supermarket, grocery store and several restaurants run by well-known operators. This isn’t Baptist Street Rec’s first change to its dining staff. In its first year, the club transforms into the Italian restaurant Vitelli’s Upstairs.
Liquid and Larder, the hospitality group behind CBD bar-restaurants Bistecca and The Gidley, opened Bar Julius and rooftop hotel Lottie on the corner of Cleveland and Baptist streets just 18 months ago. Liquid and Larder co-founder James Bradey confirmed they will stop operating venues at the end of August.
“I’m really proud of the work we did,” Bradey said. “But we didn’t reach the financial heights [at Bar Julius and Lottie] “We would like to.”
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The Wunderlich Lane project has paved a gentrified path on the grittier south side of Cleveland Street, with the swanky venues at The Eve Hotel receiving positive reviews and Bar Julius receiving dazzling design awards. Lottie was also awarded a Good Food Guide hat and praised as “a sun-splashed roof over long margarita-filled lunches.”
If Liquid and Larder’s time came again, Bradey and his team might do a few things differently. Despite the “bar” connotations in its name, Bar Julius is an all-day venue where hotel guests at The Eve eat breakfast. “Originally we were going to call it Baptist, but we’re looking at another location in development. [the now-closed Baptist Street Rec. Club] It opened before us,” Bradey said. “It’s definitely more successful at night… maybe we should have called it Bistro Julius or just Julius.”
The all-day model resonated with some locals; One local business owner stops by Bar Julius for a morning espresso, returns for lunch and regularly ends the day with dinner or a drink, Bradey said. In March, Good Food reviewer Callan Boys praised Bar Julius for its versatility and compatibility with Redfern customers: “Bar Julius may actually be one of the rarest breed: a busy hotel bar more frequented by locals than guests.”
Bradey said the relationship with TOGA Group is open and transparent. “We had a series of financial projections that we revisited throughout the trip, and when we actually didn’t hit them, we would discuss it with them,” he said.
“When they said the concept needed to change, we thought ‘this is probably not us’.” [to do it] … Actually, it was a joint decision. IT [also] “It makes sense to have a single operator across three venues.”
