Tenjo opens Monday, November 16, 2026, as a 100-seat Japanese izakaya on the rooftop of the EVE Hotel at 8 Baptist Street, Redfern. Japanese izakaya Tenjo brings rooftop drinks, cooked-to-order donabe and a full-meal izakaya option to Wunderlich Lane in its first month. The space previously held Mexican restaurant Lottie, so this is the clearest rooftop reset yet for the precinct (SMH2).
Inside Japanese izakaya Tenjo at the EVE Hotel
Tenjo matters because Orkhestra is taking over the rooftop with a format that should be easier to use than Lottie was for many diners: drinks, snacks, sashimi, maki rolls, tempura and claypot rice in one 100-seat room. Orkhestra also operates Cho Cho San, The Apollo and Olympus Dining, which gives Tenjo a stronger operator signal than a typical hotel-rooftop handover.
Fredy Lim leads the kitchen. His previous role as head chef at sushi e in the CBD is the useful credential here, because Tenjo’s menu leans into Japanese technique without turning the rooftop into a formal counter experience. Lim has said an izakaya is a place to unwind and gather over drinks after work, and the opening menu includes a yuzu slushie, sashimi, tempura and donabe.
The room has changed materially from the Lottie era. The dark-brown window-frame tones have gone, replaced with softer colours, red accents, cut crystal and hand-thrown stoneware. Laser-cut screens add patterned light, and the rooftop keeps the retractable glass roof, which is the feature that should make Tenjo useful in more weather than the average open-air terrace.
This is not the place to chase a long tasting-menu cadence. Compared with Olympus Dining downstairs, Tenjo looks better suited to a one-drink, two-plate stop before dinner elsewhere in the precinct, or a casual full meal built around rice, fish and cocktails. Olympus remains the proven ground-floor dining anchor; Tenjo is the new rooftop test.
The rooftop reset from Lottie to Tenjo
Wunderlich Lane needed a clean second act on the rooftop. Liquid & Larder, which operates The Gidley and Bistecca, announced in July that it would stop running Bar Julius and Lottie at the end of August. The venues had positive reviews and design awards, but Liquid & Larder said they had failed to hit financial targets.
We're doing our version of Tokyo Banana, with sponge cake, caramelised banana ice-cream and maple-infused banana1
Fredy Lim, Head Chef
Tenjo arrives with pressure already built into the address. Wunderlich Lane is part of TOGA Group’s reported $500 million redevelopment of the old Redfern mall, and the EVE Hotel’s restaurant mix has been under scrutiny since those two venues turned over. A beautiful hotel dining room is not enough at this site. The restaurants need locals, hotel guests and destination diners to use them repeatedly.
Orkhestra now has the strongest position in the precinct. The group runs Olympus Dining on the ground floor, has relaunched Bar Julius as French bistro Baptiste, and is putting Tenjo on the rooftop. At the EVE Hotel, Olympus Dining is the established success story, Baptiste serves French bistro cooking, and Tenjo offers Japanese rooftop drinking and donabe.
The switch from Mexican to Japanese is also practical. A 100-seat rooftop needs range: a table that wants one drink, a couple splitting maki rolls, a group ordering claypot rice, and hotel guests who want dinner without committing to a formal sequence. Tenjo’s format gives the room more ways to earn a booking than a narrower concept.
Fredy Lim’s menu is built around donabe, sashimi and snacks
Each claypot rice dish is cooked to order, with grains steaming at the top and crisping on the bottom. Finish options include beef short-rib, umeboshi chicken or mushrooms, including golden enoki, pink oyster and shimeji. Donabe can anchor a full meal, especially for three or four people.
Tempura, sashimi and maki rolls give Tenjo the snack structure it needs, while snapper with fermented finger lime ponzu and scallops served in different ways give the menu more point than a generic hotel Japanese offering. The scallop details matter: one version goes into gyoza, another sits on shiso with bearnaise.
The drinks are not filler. Tenjo opens with a yuzu slushie and a kabosu margarita with matcha and coconut oil from bartender Matt Whiley. The kabosu margarita is the better signal of the bar’s direction because matcha and coconut oil push it away from a standard citrus-and-salt build.
Dessert gives Lim one more reason to keep the table. Kakigori, the Japanese shaved ice dessert, appears on the menu, and Lim is also making a Tokyo Banana-inspired dessert with sponge cake, caramelised banana ice-cream and maple-infused banana.
Compared with Baptiste downstairs, Tenjo should feel easier to drop into for one or two courses. Baptiste’s opening menu includes veal sweetbreads, shellfish platters, pissaladiere and confit duck leg with duck sausage. Those dishes point to a fuller bistro meal. Tenjo’s flexible format covers sashimi and a drink at the bar, donabe for the table, or a late rooftop dessert after dinner elsewhere.
Why Orkhestra’s EVE Hotel run matters
Orkhestra’s involvement is the trust signal. Orkhestra runs high-volume restaurants Cho Cho San and The Apollo, and Olympus Dining has already operated inside the EVE Hotel.
Baptiste is part of Orkhestra’s repositioning of the building. Bar Julius has relaunched as a French bistro on the ground floor, with chef Luke Papalia leading the kitchen. Papalia’s background includes The Charles Brasserie & Bar in the CBD, and the Baptiste menu puts sauces into focus: a fish-based version of sauce diane for tuna steak, steak au poivre, and sauces using ingredients such as creme fraiche for acidity and freshness.
The ground floor has been adjusted as well. Baptiste has a new entrance direct to Baptist Street, more mirrored finishes, and further Parisian-style changes planned outside, including a large awning. Those details matter because Wunderlich Lane cannot rely only on hotel guests. The precinct needs street-level reasons for Redfern locals to walk in, not just destination diners arriving by car.
Tenjo gives the same recalibration to the roof. The retractable glass roof, 100 seats and izakaya format are not incidental details. They give Orkhestra a venue that can run across different occasions: after-work drinks, hotel-guest dinners, birthday groups, snack-heavy dates and full meals anchored by donabe.
What to know before you book Tenjo
Tenjo’s listed hours are lunch Thursday to Sunday from noon and dinner daily from 5pm. In December, Tenjo is set to open for lunch and dinner daily. If you want the first look without the peak dinner pressure, lunch from Thursday to Sunday is the cleaner early move. Dinner from 5pm gives Tenjo a drink-and-snack window before the room fills (SMH2).
The address is 8 Baptist Street, Redfern, inside the EVE Hotel at Wunderlich Lane. Tenjo sits in the same building mix as Olympus Dining and Baptiste, making the precinct a full-night option rather than a single-reservation stop. Tenjo offers a yuzu slushie, sashimi and donabe, while Baptiste offers French bistro cooking.
For group size, Tenjo should work better for parties of three or four than for solo diners chasing a counter-style Japanese meal. The donabe format rewards sharing, and the 100-seat room gives it more group potential than a tight omakase counter. For two people, a Tenjo dinner can include one drink each, one sashimi or tempura dish, one scallop dish and a donabe.
The verdict: track Japanese izakaya Tenjo now, book early if rooftop Japanese dining is missing from your Sydney rotation, and give it a few services if opening-week smoothness matters to you. Tenjo’s 100 seats will test whether the EVE Hotel rooftop can become a repeat-use Redfern address rather than another short chapter in Wunderlich Lane’s restaurant turnover.
