Lobo Plantation and Baxter Inn talent team up for Big Poppa's

Two rising stars of Sydney hospitality are quietly plotting a late-night Italian restaurant and lounge in Darlinghurst with a strong cheese theme and hip-hop inspired name. Big Poppa's will open in late June in the site now trading as Hello Sailor. The upcoming venue is the brainchild of Lewis Jaffrey (operations manager at Shady Pines, Baxter Inn and Frankie's), and Jared Merlino from Lobo Plantation.

"We get the keys on the April 12," says Jaffrey, who departs Swillhouse Group the same week. "We both love eating great cheese and listening to hip-hop. The name comes from a Biggie Smalls track, but it also has an Italian feel to it."

The 134-seater restaurant will slide into the site's Oxford Street-facing upstairs space after a major renovation, with a lounge opening downstairs.

"It'll be a proper cocktail lounge," says Jaffrey. "We're going to [invest] in a really good sound system." After a rough spell which saw Rambutan close at the site before Hello Sailor, the precinct and surrounding back lanes have picked up pace in recent years. Big Poppa's mid-year launch looks to be right on the money.