At this point, I think we can safely say it: Redfern’s $500 million Wunderlich Lane precinct turned out more than alright.

Island Radio, led by Indonesian executive chef Andy Wirya, is easily one of Sydney’s coolest new restaurants. Ditto Olympus, Jonathan Bartholmess’s big fat Greek follow-up to The Apollo in Potts Point. The Liquid & Larder team (The Gidley, Bistecca) have nailed premium hotel bar and dining with Julius and Lottie respectively.

And the hits keep coming. Baptist Street Rec Club opened last night above Island Radio, and it’s inevitably where diners at that restaurant will head for a schooner or a Japanese Slipper before and after a plate of char kway teow and babi guling downstairs.

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But House Made Hospitality (the group behind both venues) is confident it’ll be more than just a waiting room for Island Radio. It’s the casual counterpoint to the lane’s flashy restaurant stable, and the group has leaned into the Australiana-fever-dream schtick with the locals in mind.

It’s a smart move. After all, nostalgia is in, mate.

“I grew up in Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast, and 25 years ago there wasn’t a McDonald’s, a Coles or a Woolies there,” remembers group beverage director Jason Williams. “I had my 18th birthday at the Surf Life Saving Club, where they used to have touring DJs, underage discos, that kind of thing. We’re tapping into those kinds of memories.”

Head up the staircase on the Baptist Street side of the heritage building and, as you reach the top of the stairs, briefly, you might feel as though you’ve walked into a lived-in terrace house.

But around the bend – crikey! Say g’day to a timber disco cabin complete with fluffy pub-core carpets, framed Aussie icons – Cathy Freeman, Kylie Minogue, Kath and Kim, Sydney 2000 ads – lining the walls, and a bookable “trophy room” with dozens of actual trophies stuck to the roof like golden stalactites.

Behind a long timber bar, bartenders in Hawaiian shirts mix “nuevo retro” cocktails. Now, about that Japanese slipper.

“We put that number one on the list because it’s the retro cocktail,” Williams says of the Melbourne-born drink, which has been tweaked here with finger lime extract and yuzucello by Marrickville’s Chell-oh!. “Midori was huge in the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s. It was brat before brat was even a thing.”

When Broadsheet visited, we tried the Breakfast Martini, a “plump and zesty” drink made with Ester dry gin, Cointreau, fresh lemon and spiced pineapple marmalade. The mini triangle of Tip Top floating on top would’ve done well on its own with a schmear of Vegemite.

But the nostalgia extends beyond the drinks menu. Until late, Baptist Street Rec Club’s head chef Kongkiat Buakanok serves Thai pub classics – like pad thai, curries and classic fried entrees.

“In my town growing up, I think the population was under 10,000 people and we had three Thai restaurants,” says Williams. “In the ’80s and ’90s there was a wave of pubs with Thai kitchens. [Long Chim’s] David Thompson started in an inner-west pub.”

Thematic stuff aside, Williams says the Rec Club is simply meant to be a good neighbourhood bar locals can get around – albeit one with cocktails that wouldn’t look out of place at one of the group’s more sophisticated venues.

The venue’s slogan, printed on every coaster, probably sums up the place best. “Drinks and hoopla”? Say less.

Baptist Street Rec Club
Corner of Cleveland & Baptist Street, Redfern

Hours:
Tues & Wed 4pm–midnight
Thurs to Sat 4pm–2am
Sun 4pm–midnight

baptiststreetrec.club
@baptiststreetrecclub