Hip Redfern hotel The Eve is set to open in November, with 102 luxe rooms, two eateries and poolside dining. The boutique project by TFE Hotels – which also operates The Calile in Brisbane – has done something creative, throwing the keys to Eve’s entire food and beverage offering to local hospitality operator Liquid & Larder.

“It’s our business,” Liquid & Larder co-owner James Bradey says of the partnership. “If it goes belly-up, it’s on us.”

While the standard play in the hotel world is to draft a high-profile chef, such as Luke Mangan at the Kimpton Margot Hotel or Sean Connolly at QT Sydney, Liquid & Larder is known for cool bars like The Rover in Surry Hills and meat artisans at Bistecca in the CBD.

That edgy, street-smart Sydney experience gave Liquid & Larder an advantage in the food and beverage tender at The Eve, where they will oversee an all-day bar and restaurant on the lobby level and a Mexican restaurant on the rooftop with a mezcaleria and poolside dining.

The Eve will be situated in the sprawling Wunderlich Lane dining and retail precinct at the eastern end of Cleveland Street, alongside plenty of other seasoned Sydney hospitality operators. The crew from The Apollo in Potts Point will launch Olympus restaurant in late 2024, and a pizzeria from the owner of Pyrmont’s two-hat LuMi restaurant is also planned. The team behind Hinchcliff House in the CBD will open two venues.

Bradey is keen to broaden the new venues’ appeal beyond the usual on-site hotel customer base. He’s confident that the casual swagger of Liquid & Larder’s venues will lure Redfern locals, as well as a wider demographic.

“We don’t have the hotel culture of Asia where you get what I call over-servicing, with three people hovering over you. Australians are more laidback than that,” he says.

The group will market the new venues like other Liquid & Larder sites and let them grow organically. “I’d love to see Australian Fashion Week holding an event up on the rooftop,” he says.

The Mexican restaurant concept is new for Liquid & Larder, which has generally leaned in on city steak ventures at The Gidley, Alfie’s and Bistecca.

Bradey says his organisation was attracted to The Eve due to the shared vision to create Sydney’s best hotel experience, adding that they have always aspired to work with a boutique hotel. “A group like this gives us a good idea of what is involved.”