Manly’s dining scene is booming. Now Greek restaurant Olympus is joining the party

Greek restaurant Olympus Dining became an instant hit when it opened at the $500 million Wunderlich Lane precinct in Redfern. Now, it’s heading north of the bridge with a second venue set to open daily for lunch and dinner at Manly Wharf on Monday, December 7.

It’s the latest part of a culinary renaissance sweeping through the beachfront suburb over the past 18 months, led by high-profile chefs and restaurateurs such as Alessandro Pavoni (Cibaria, Ormeggio at the Spit, a’Mare), Louis Tikaram (Stanley) and Good Food’s 2025 Young Chef of the Year Luke Bourke, who led the kitchen at Felons Seafood.

While the one-hatted Olympus in Redfern was a fresh build and is led by former Baba’s Place head chef Özge Kalvo, the new Olympus will take over the 260-seat waterfront site currently tenanted by one-hatted Felons Seafood, transforming it into a contemporary Greek taverna while retaining Bourke as head chef.

While Felons Seafood will close in the coming weeks, Felons Brewing Co. will continue trade at the wharf, and is debuting its first Manly-brewed beer (a Japanese rice lager) this month.

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“We want Olympus to be the kind of taverna you just stumble into and never want to leave,” says Oscar Solomon, group development chef for Orkhestra, the hospitality group behind The Apollo and Cho Cho San in Potts Point, and Greca and Yoko at The Howard Smith Wharves in Brisbane.

Orkhestra has undergone a rapid expansion in its portfolio this month, opening two new restaurants at The Eve Hotel in Wunderlich Lane: Baptiste, a French bistro which replaced Bar Julius on the ground floor; and Tenjo, a Japanese izakaya taking over the rooftop, where Mexican restaurant Lottie once was.

Solomon says the new Olympus might feel familiar to Sydney diners, but it’s no franchise. He’s working with Bourke on the menu, combining Australian-caught seafood with traditional wood-fired cooking, and offering new dishes including coral trout plaki with caramelised fennel to be served alongside signatures from across the group’s portfolio, like Apollo’s oxtail kritharaki.

“We’re not just picking up the menu and dropping it in, but we are taking parts of what we’ve spent the better part of 10 to 15 years working on and [making it] beautiful, easy and approachable,” he says. Nor are they dropping a 50-year-old bougainvillea tree into the centre of the restaurant like at the Redfern original, keeping the focus on the water instead.

Bartender Matt Whiley, who previously ran pioneering zero-waste bar RE: in South Eveleigh (now closed), has developed an adventurous drinks list for the venue, including karpouzi Aperol slushies and a rum and whipped honey coffee frappe.

The Manly restaurant scene began to gain momentum about 18 months ago, when Pavoni opened Italian cafe-restaurant Cibaria inside the renovated Manly Pacific. It was an instant hit, with a day-to-night offering spanning takeaway gelato to casual fine dining.

“It went off the charts, and I think that built confidence in the area,” says Pavoni. “Then Felons came in, and other high-level restaurants … it’s been rewarding because I think we really helped to pioneer that.”

Artemus Group, the company best known for the $110 million development of the Howard Smith Wharves precinct in Brisbane, has played a pivotal role with its 2024 acquisition of the $110 million leasehold and subsequent refurbishment of Manly Wharf and Manly Wharf Hotel.

In Brisbane and in Sydney, the company invests in both the real-estate sites and the hospitality venues that occupy them – co-founders Adam Flaskas and Paul Henry co-own Felons Brewing Co alongside Luke Fraser, Dean Romeo and Tom Champion and restaurant Stanley, alongside Tikaram. They also bought longstanding Manly Wharf restaurant Hugo’s for $20 million, keeping former owners David Corsi and David Evans on as directors.

Corsi says the investment has transformed the wharf from a transport hub to a dining destination, with hatted restaurants sitting comfortably alongside more casual fare from the likes of A.P Bakery. In August, Melbourne-based restaurateur Chris Lucas announced he would also enter the suburb with the fourth outpost of Chin Chin, set to open next year.

“People used to get off the ferry and go home, but with all the improvements, we notice that we’re catching a lot more people,” Corsi says. “The pub’s been improved, Stanley’s open and just been awarded two hats, and you’ve got Hugo’s as an anchor tenant, and we made our deck twice as big.”

“It’s bringing better and better operators to the area, and it’s beautiful.”