Now Open: In Redfern, the Lottie Team’s Taking Leading Chef Alejandro Huerta Sky High

Holiday vibes don’t immediately spring to mind when you think of Redfern. There’s much we love about the ‘burb, but it’s not rooftop restaurants and poolside Margaritas. But that’s all changing with the opening of Lottie, the Mexican restaurant on top of The Eve. It might have inner-city views, but the polished fit-out and lush plants scream vacay.

It arrives from Liquid & Larder, the team behind CBD steak heavyweights Alfie’s, Bistecca and The Gidley, along with The Rover in Surry Hills. The new courtyard restaurant is dusted pink, with a giant marble bar for walk-ins and travertine walls. But, it’s who’s in the kitchen we’re chatting about.

Alejandro Huerta’s cooking most recently impressed at Comedor, the now-closed Newtown restaurant. He’s worked at Noma in Copenhagen, the Michelin-starred Pujol in Mexico City and designed the taco offering at our own El Primo Sanchez. Following Comedor’s closure – reportedly resulting from a difficult work environment – it feels positive to see Huerta stepping out on the rooftop as head chef. He’ll be captaining the kitchen alongside the group’s executive chef Pip Pratt. And the two have hit it off, with an opening menu that plays on the tastes of “home”, but dressed up.

Take Lottie’s Aztec cake. “For me, it’s something that always reminded me of my family, of my mum,” Huerta tells Broadsheet. “Whenever I went away to Denmark or to Chicago and came back home, this was the first thing that she’d cook for me.” Traditionally, it’s almost a Mexican lasagne, where chicken and a bright poblano pepper sauce are layered with tortillas. But here, the two deliver it as a side, and ditch the meat. A stew-like combo of zucchini, corn, chillies and tomato forms the base, which is layered with tortillas. The savoury cake is then slathered with cream cheese and baked.

But Huerta’s not the only one taking inspiration from family memories. Pratt’s pork jowl with cola mole was inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe for Coca Cola glazed Christmas ham he had with family in London. Pratt’s take sees pork jowl cooked in the traditional carnitas style: low and slow with stock and fat, until the meat is falling apart and tender. It’s topped with a mole that’s been sweetened with fizzy drink rather than the traditional chocolate, then served with house-made tortillas and a shock of acid via pickled habanero and fennel.

“It’s fun that he’s using those memories and thinking about how to mix them into Mexican cuisine,” Huerta says. “The end result is very interesting.”

The menu is share-style, completely gluten-free and draws from the talent pool of the group. The riff on tartare sees offcuts from Alfie’s beef chop sit between crisp, golden coins of potato wafers. Raw scallops are dressed up fresh in a sauce of pickled cucumber, celery and apple. Murray cod is cooked over charcoal, arriving charred on a banana leaf with a bed of spicy, tangy achiote sauce; and a mushroom tamale is brightened with kombu broth.

The group’s bar lead Ben Ingall devised a list that’s full of, naturally, tequila and agave. There’s the Elote Elote, which leans into the Whiskey Sour zone, and a trio of Margs: classic, frozen or spiced.

Sydney’s hotel dining has really ramped up in the last year. Just this week, the Ace Hotel welcomed Beau Clugston (ex-Noma) to the Kiln team. And in 2024, the House Made Hospitality team opened four venues in the revamped Sofitel Wentworth and Sydney Common arrived in the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park. But when The Eve opens in February, it’ll have the widest-ranging clutch of eateries in its proximity: Lottie will join Olympus and Bar Julius as part of The Eve, and Island Radio, Regina La Pizzeria and a few more coming soon are in the neighbouring Wunderlich Lane.

Lottie
Rooftop, 8 Baptist Street, Redfern

Hours:
Daily midday–late

liquidandlarder.com.au/venues/lottie
@lottie.syd