Vivid Sydney is back for the eighth year. Running from from 27 May to 18 June, the festival of lights, music, and ideas includes lighted precincts around Sydney from Circular Quay and Walsh Bay to The Galeries and Darling Harbour.
Here are the top 10 picks of where to eat and drink during Vivid Sydney 2016:
1. Opera Bar will serve oyster shots with Indigenous berries and herbs for vibrant colouring, with ‘bush tucker’, including fingerlimes, lemon myrtle and smoked macadamia nuts. Colourful cocktails, a GIF photo booth, projections and lights will add to the playful Vivid Sydney festival atmosphere.
2. At the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, sit down at Busby’s Bar for a Tyrrell’s wine and a bite to eat such as q range of food from gourmet cheese toasty’s, beef brisket or lamb shoulder rolls, to heart-warming soups.
3. The Galeries will bring Vivid Sydney indoors with the Perspectives installation and fine dining until 10pm at The ArtHouse Hotel, Graffiti Italian Ristorante, Lotus at the Galeries, and Sushi Hotaru.
4. Martin Place will host a pop-up bar serving Young Henry’s and 4 Pines Beer, Batlow cider, and James Estate Hunter Valley wines.Food offerings include Bar Pho and Sandweesh as well as collaborative ice cream burgers by Blackstar Pastry, Little Marionette and N2 Extreme Gelato.
5. Deep Purple Pool Hall pop-up bar at Sydney Opera House by the team behind Tio’s Cerveceria and The Cliff Dive will offer a unique bar, run by Aria catering with artisanal beer and wine.
6. Chatswood will host ahead of previewing the vibrant WildLight – The Bio-Kenetic City installations with dining precincts offering market stalls in the Mall, food trucks on Anderson Street, and the new Asian inspired Hawker lane in Westfield Chatswood. At Chatswood Interchange visitors can enjoy a meal at Chatswood’s newest dining precinct, The District, open daily until 11pm. The Concourse, and Chatswood Chase will also offer food options.
7. Carriageworks are hosting a series of bespoke dining experiences called Sydney Table where 50 guests will be treated to an evening designed and prepared by some of Australia’s most exciting talents from the fields of food, music, art and design including Designer Vince Frost, Sam Miller from Silvereye and artist Lisa Madigan.
8. At Westfield Sydney the Enchanted Forest installation offers a backdrop to diners on level five and six with food court offerings from i a variety of cuisines including Tim Ho Wan and Din Tai Fung with late night bites open to the public until 9pm from Thursday to Saturday.
9. Head to Bennelong at The Sydney Opera House for locally sourced red claw yabbies from Mandandanji country in South West Queensland, served with lemon jam, cultured cream and buckwheat pikelets and ‘The Bennelong Billy’, an Aussie rum-based cocktail with river mint, quandong liqueur and strawberry gum served over crushed ice.
10. 8 Bits+Bytes burger activation at Martin Place will feature five Sydney burger houses including Mary’s, Milk Bar by Café ish, Pub Life Kitchen, Bang Bang, and Sammy’s Burger Bar where visitors will be able to vote for their favourite burger in an interactive burger battle which will be tallied in real-time on a digital score board.
Vivid Sydney, a colourful canvas of light, music and ideas runs for 23 nights from 27 May to 18 June. More information at www.vividsydney.com
Photo Credit: Daniel Boud. Used with permission
