A global city and one considered world-class for its restaurants, food quality and passionate dining scene, Sydney is serving up an enticing new happening for the culinarily inclined, unveiling the programme for Vivid Food, as part of the Vivid Sydney festival schedule — a celebration of multiculturalism, innovation, skill and ingredients.
There’s a lot going on in the city each year — it’s only just wrapped Australian Fashion Week — so a new event needs to swing big to make an impact, and Vivid Food has an impressive line-up.
One of the people shaping the somewhat indefinable “New American” cuisine, New York City-based-based Swiss chef Daniel Humm (pictured above) has been in the media spotlight (and on gastronomes’ wish lists) since taking over what’s considered one of the world’s best fine dining restaurants, the three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park, in 2011 — where he’d been executive chef since 2006 — undertaking some radical changes, including a complete interior refit, eliminating tipping (although this is now optional) and committing to a completely vegan menu.
Humm is one of the big stars to join the Sydney festival’s line-up, and he will be undertaking an already sold-out two-week Vivid Residence stint at Matt Moran’s restaurant Aria, from June 6-17. Humm and his team will take over the kitchen, working alongside Aria’s expert staff, to create what’s billed as a “once-in-a-lifetime” tasting menu (executed as five courses for lunch or nine courses for dinner) that “transcends cultural heritage and champions culinary discovery”, with Humm bringing his plant-based approach to New South Wales finest ingredients.
He’s not the only internationally renowned chef heading down under for the occasion; the Vivid Chef Series also sees the likes of Mmabatho Molefe heading to Sydney to share her food, knowledge and vision with Antipodean diners.
Molefe’s Cape Town restaurant Emazulwini opened its doors in 2020, and since then she has been making waves for her distinctive, contemporary cuisine, which draws from the food culture of the Nguni and, specifically, Zulu peoples, as well as celebrating South African ingredients, and her approach to gender and racial representation — Emazulwini’s staff are all black women.
Last year Molefe was named one of the 50 Next Hospitality Pioneers by World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and this year sees her join the ranks of top talent for Vivid Sydney. She will be at the soon-to-open Bar Morris (within the historic and recently refurbished Hotel Morris), collaborating with the head chef on a special dinner series from June 14-17. Called “The Roots”, the menu will look to both past and future with flavours and techniques spanning three continents — Africa, Australasia and Europe — and a respect for locality and sustainability.
Chef Rishi Naleendra is behind a cluster of Singapore hotspots, including Sri Lankan restaurant Kotuwa; Fool wine bar, yakitori and izakaya eatery Bincho; and his flagship Michelin-starred restaurant Cloudstreet (it has earned two). Naleendra is coming to Sydney for the Vivid Chef Series, which will see him reunited with former mentor Brent Savage. From June 6-9, the duo will collaborate on a series of dinners at Savage’s Potts Point restaurant Yellow, a hatted, vegan-focused eatery housed in a striking — yes, it’s yellow — converted 1950s gallery.
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Advertise with NZME.Also in the Chef Series, London hotshot Jackson Boxer, a chef and restaurateur who’s behind the menu at seasonally focused Notting Hill restaurant Orasay, and the historic and elegant Brunswick House. He’s also consulting on the soon-to-reopen Cowley Manor hotel in the Cotswolds. In quite the exciting meet-up, Boxer will join forces with Sydney’s Hussein Sarhan, co-head chef of farm-to-table Paddington restaurant Fred’s, and the two will collaborate on a special menu over four evenings, June 4-7.
Another hot series to draw some interesting talent is Vivid Fire Kitchen (free to attend events from May 26 to June 17) which will showcase grill stars — including Byron Bay’s Pip Sumbak, a chef and caterer who creates immersive open-fire cooking (and eating!) experiences, as well as Texas-based Australian “pitmaster” and television star Jess Pryles, and Dave Pynt from Michelin-starred Singapore barbecue restaurant Burnt Ends.
And, as we saw at the recent Australian Fashion Week, considerable progress is being made to include and honour indigenous Australian voices. A standout in the Vivid Food programme is the special Warakirri Dining Experience with renowned chef and Ngemba Weilwan custodian Sharon Winsor, celebrating First Nations food knowledge and ingredients sourced on Gadigal Land.
An event not just about the big names, Vivid Food is just as much of a spotlight placed on Sydney’s food scene — good news for loyal locals and visitors — and the programme includes special dinners, rooftop occasions and harbour events.
Vivid Food, and the “light, music, foods and ideas festival” that is Vivid Sydney, run from May 26 to Saturday June 17 2023.
