Customer Experience
Sydney Opera House pushes further into event-driven dining for Vivid
During Vivid LIVE, Sydney's Opera House will broaden its culinary strategy - unveiling the Forecourt Food Village, a new outdoor dining precinct.
By Clare Riley
The Sydney Opera House is set to broaden its culinary strategy during this year’s Vivid LIVE - unveiling the Forecourt Food Village, a curated outdoor dining precinct with chef-led Cuban and Korean street food concepts, signalling a broader push into event-driven hospitality activations.
The initiative, running from 23 May to 14 June, marks the first time the Opera House has integrated an open-air, festival-scale food destination into its Vivid programming.
Designed to maximise pre- and post-show engagement and drive F&B revenue, the activation reflects a growing trend across major arts institutions to elevate onsite dining as a core part of the visitor experience.
The new forecourt concept is anchored by pop-ups from two of the Opera House’s key culinary leads: Danielle Alvarez, culinary director of Opera House Events, and Jimmy Ryu, executive chef.
Alvarez debuts La Cubanita, a brand-new concept drawing from her Cuban heritage. It features high-margin, high-appeal items like pulled pork sandwiches, Caribbean sweet potato fries, and a themed kids’ menu. Meanwhile, Ryu introduces K-town Bites, a Korean street-food offering focused on scalable crowd favourites, including Korean fried chicken, gochujang cauliflower, and japchae noodles.
Both food outlets are positioned to capitalise on high foot traffic from Vivid LIVE audiences and casual visitors. They operate from 5pm to 10pm daily, and no ticket is required for entry—an open-access model designed to optimise volume.
In a key brand partnership, the Opera House has again teamed up with Australia’s most-awarded distillery, Archie Rose Distilling Co., to operate The Bar ft. Archie Rose. The offering includes signature cocktails, craft spirits, and a range of local wines and non-alcoholic options, further reinforcing the Opera House’s strategy to align with premium Australian producers.
Other Vivid Food experiences set to run across the Opera House precinct include:
- The Midnight Special returns to the Concert Hall Northern Foyer with The Aurora, an immersive pop-up bar designed to deepen dwell time within the venue. The activation blends light projection, DJ programming and themed F&B, running from 23 May to 1 June.
- At Bennelong, dual premium offers provide high-yield dining options, including a $65pp cocktail-and-snack bar experience and a $285pp three-course fine dining menu in the Dress Circle, focusing on maximising revenue per cover during peak event nights.
Opera Bar and House Canteen will run limited-edition menus with festival-themed items such as warm espresso martinis, exclusive ice cream collaborations, and nostalgic treats with adult twists, targeted at family and tourist segments.
Two premium ticketed dining events are also part of the official Vivid Food program:
- Dance of Dreams (13–14 June) — a $329pp sensory dinner by Alvarez with live performance and curated wine pairings in the Yallamundi Rooms, offering a high-end hospitality experience.
- Saltbush and Starlight — a new First Nations-led concept from chef Mark Olive, including a behind-the-scenes Opera House tour, Indigenous ingredient-focused menu, and curated NSW drinks list. This event runs on Friday and Saturday evenings across the festival, with Olive’s restaurant Midden also offering themed beverages and warm non-alcoholic drinks.
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