We Need To Talk About the Ceiling at Bar Julius, Redfern’s New All-Day Hotel Dining Room

Most of us are invested in what we’ll be eating and drinking when choosing a new dining room to visit. We want to know what the snack situation is, what mains will be coming and whether the table will be sharing, the by-the-glass list and approach to cocktails. At Bar Julius, The Eve Hotel’s new 6.30am-till-midnight dining room, all this depends on when you visit.

First thing, for fruit and muesli? Or 11am for a silky French omelette and clarified Crystal Mimosa, maybe? From midday till late for a burger, cacio e pepe or tomato tarte tatin. Any time is excellent, but it’s the striking double-arched ceiling that locked in our interest.

Artist and designer Louise Olsen, co-founder of Dinosaur Designs, is behind the 100-seat dining room’s hero piece, which removes any need for other works on the walls. Before you’ve walked in through the glossy-red-tiled entryway, you’re looking up. “I was definitely wowed,” Olsen tells Broadsheet. “It is the first time I’ve seen one of my paintings printed at this very large, all-consuming scale. The dimension of it brings out other elements, it really invites the diner into the painting.”

Once The Eve team selected the piece – Still Life, part of Olsen’s 2023 collection Manifestations, which depicts a collection of vessels – it was blown up, printed and stretched across the Barrisol ceiling. You can see the brush strokes of the original, where oil and acrylic paints were splashed across linen. “I love the relationship [the piece] has with its new home. It explores many forms and colours … and [the] reflections or shadows bottles can create in their emptiness or fullness. Liquid in a bottle can almost create a mini work of art when spilled or splashed by the person who is handling the bottle. All these interactions create beautiful, unexpected still life moments.”

Local architecture studio SJB is behind the room’s design, where dark timber, marble and leather keep it sleek. “We wanted something flowing and the juxtaposition with the architecture,” Olsen says. “The ‘painting-ness’ of the ceiling is really captivating and interesting.”

In the kitchen, head chef Will Francis joins the Liquid & Larder team, the group behind the hotel’s dining options (as well as Alfie’s, Bistecca, The Rover and The Gidley). The menu is “a cross between your classic kind of restaurant and a hotel,” Francis says – all-day classics, perfect for checked-in guests “on different time zones”.

Lean into your holiday with caviar and champagne, beef tartare or a truly elegant hot dog. “It’s this beautiful milk bun with a decadent smoked pig’s head sausage and crispy shallot rings. But if you want to just come in and have one of the best burgers you’ve probably ever had, you can also do that as well.” (A bold call, but one that could stack up – the team’s behind what some call Australia’s best burger.)

A “simple” pub classic delivers chook that’s been brined, marinated in roast lemon, rolled up and water-bathed, then roasted and basted with more butter and a zesty dressing. On the side is a tarragon-flavoured sauce ready to drench your chips. Two rules to know? No reservations and no laptops after 5pm.

“It makes everyone’s experience so fun and interesting,” says Francis. “To come down to Bar Julius with its beautiful ceiling and amazing atmosphere, with a menu that’s so varied but so decadent, is so exciting.”

Bar Julius
6 Baptist Street, Redfern

Hours:
Daily 6.30am–midnight

liquidandlarder.com.au/venues/bar-julius
@barjulius.redfern