When you hear the words “Vivid Sydney”, you probably think of light displays and huge installations illuminating the harbour. However, the multi-arts festival is on a mission to cement itself as one of the country’s leading culinary events.
Vivid Sydney is turning up the heat on its food program in 2026. The number of chefs involved has more than doubled from previous years and the NSW government is promising it will be the biggest in the festival’s history.
The 2026 Vivid food program spans intimate degustation dinners, regional produce showcases and multi-sensory experiences that use food as a lens on landscape, culture and place.
“It explores the connection between food and memory, how every dish holds a story and every flavour carries the spirit of where it came from,” festival director Brett Sheehy explains.
Vivid Fire Kitchen, now in its new home at Barangaroo, remains the program’s free-access hub, but the ticketed program around it has grown into something genuinely ambitious.
From multi-sensory experiences to takeovers of Sydney’s landmarks, there’s a strong focus on produce and the people who bring them on to our plates. It’s definitely something you should sink your teeth into.
“More of an art project than dining out”
One of the most anticipated events is Perspective at Infinity, a 90-minute multi-sensory dining experience created by celebrated Australian chef Mark Best. Over two nights on June 10 and 11, the Michelin-trained chef, alongside Young Chef of the Year Jen Kwok Lee and sommelier Polly Mackarel, will take guests on a journey of three distinct NSW landscapes using food, sound, scent, and light.
The setting, inside Best’s award-winning rotating restaurant Infinity in Sydney Tower, is fundamental to the concept of “Perspective”. Since Best moved into the iconic location, his mission has been to change the way Sydneysiders and visitors think of the utility that has dominated the skyline for more than 40 years and the “restaurant in the sky” hidden inside.
Perspective at Infinity is structured around the three distinct landscapes that can be seen as the restaurant slowly rotates: urban, maritime and mountain. Custom scents by Sydney perfumer Craig Andrade of The Raconteur drift through each course, original soundscapes by Blue Mountains artist Gail Priest move the atmosphere from one world to the next and Best’s own photographic portraits of the producers behind the plates will be on display.
“It’s more of an art project than dining out,” Mark Best tells Sydney Travel Guide. “It’s going to be quite something.
“We want to give them something absolutely magical. Fundamentally what we do in hospitality is give people a moment away from their ordinary lives. We are giving them a moment to reflect and commune and talk to each other and meet and be happy and think about what’s in front of them and just enjoy themselves.
“We are turning that up 1000 per cent and bringing in all of those elements. And I hope people also coming away with a deeper sense of wonder about this city.”
Perspective at Infinity by Mark Best is on June 10 and 11, located at Sydney Tower, 108 Market St, Sydney. Tickets from $295.
Highlights of the Vivid Sydney Food program
The Long Table Dinner: NSW Icons of Land & Sea brings together select winners and nominees of the Royal Agricultural Society’s President’s Medal for a single-night, produce-led feast beneath the heritage balconies of the Strand Arcade on May 30. Chef Nino Zoccali of Restaurant Pendolino curates and hosts, with broadcaster Simon Marnie guiding diners through the evening in one of Sydney’s most treasured and favourite buildings. Tickets from $325.
Regional Dinner Series: Hunter Valley pairs EXP chef-owner Frank Fawkner, the 2026 SMH Good Food Guide’s Regional Restaurant of the Year, with Alessandro Pavoni at Barangaroo for an evening on May 24 honouring one of NSW’s great wine regions. This is just one of many events from the inaugural Regional Dinner Series which celebrates regional produce and talent, uniting regional chefs with Sydney’s finest restaurants in collaboration. Tickets from $175.
A Shared Table with Yotam Ottolenghi is an exclusive dinner and lunch with one of the world’s most influential food writers, held at Ilumina. It’s a rare chance to step into Ottolenghi’s world of produce, colours, abundance and freshness. Tickets from $340.
Culture in Motion: Mindy Woods & Danielle Alvarez is another event in the Regional Dinner Series. Led by Bundjalung woman and culinary powerhouse Mindy Woods of Karkalla, alongside Danielle Alvarez, the Sydney Opera House’s culinary director of events and a paddock-to-plate expert, this is a multi-sensory feast highlighting Byron Bay in the waterfront setting of the Yallumundi Rooms. Tickets from $275.
An Evening at Parliament House: Dining with History opens the doors of Australia’s oldest parliament on May 28 for a feast celebrating NSW’s political history, food culture and First Nations connections. Tickets from $195.
