House Made Hospitality opens the doors to Island Radio today in Sydney’s Redfern. It’s the fifth launch for the group this year, and comes right off the back of the October debuts of Tilda, Bar Tilda, Bar Wentworth, and Delta Rue at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.
The venue is located in the Wunderlich Lane precinct behind a heritage-listed façade on the corner of Baptist and Cleveland streets.
Easy Tiger’s Andrianto Wirya (ex-Merivale) is leading the kitchen, and has developed an extensive menu according to House Made Director Justin Newton.
“Andy is a great chef who’s been with us for about a year. He’s Indonesian and he cooks a lot of food from Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines,” says Newton.
In line with House Made Hospitality’s rapidly growing portfolio – from the French Vietnamese restaurant that is Delta Rue, to the coastal aesthetic and seafood-laden menu of Bondi’s Promenade – Island Radio’s concept is well-defined.
“I think once we start to slack off concept-wise, you start to slack off operationally as well,” says Newton. “I’d hate to have a concept that you roll out again and again with a team that copies and pastes it. We’d lose the passion.
“We took the island theme quite literally. The floor is dark blue like the ocean. There are spheres hanging from the ceiling that represent moons and the land is all the furniture.”
The venue sits on its own “island” corner of the precinct, split off from other buildings by Wunderlich Lane and Bank Lane. At one end of the restaurant is a coffee window with outdoor seating that will serve up morning brews and bacon and egg rolls “with a South East Asian twist”. Inside, there’s seating for 120, with two private rooms upstairs for karaoke and dining.
The bathrooms are a world of their own, and it’s worth visiting just to check them out.
At the back of the main dining room, the DJ and recording booth gives meaning to the latter half of the name. DJs will curate mixes and host Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. ‘Radio’ also hints at a venue that is more youthful and fun than many of HMH’s other upmarket venues, says Newton.
Newton says much of the inspiration comes from the atmosphere of Indonesia’s beach clubs, in particular Potato Head Beach Club in Seminyak, Bali.
“I love the design, the service, the cocktails, and the food [at Potato Head]. It’s phenomenal,” says Newton.
“It’s relaxing but it’s lively and colourful. There’s music curation, they have live artists, they have beach parties, and it’s both for families and for singles. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have that feeling in the middle of Redfern?’ So we built it around that.”
It’s tempting to assume the group will slow down after its jam-packed 2024, but Newton has a glint in his eye when asked if they’ll relax once Wunderlich Lane is up and running. “Well,” he says, “we did look at a couple of sites the other week, actually.”
For now, House Made is focussing on getting Island Radio up and running, along with the soon-to-follow Baptist Street Rec Club upstairs.
