Is Opera Bar finally more than just a so-so tourist attraction?

• Opera Bar has entered a new era with Applejack Hospitality taking over from Solotel Group.
• The new lease on life puts a bigger focus on locally-sourced produce and higher quality food offerings.
• Circular Quay is set for a bit of a bit revival with the Maybe Sammy team planning on opening something soon.

Applejack has officially taken over Opera Bar, with House Canteen following next Thursday as part of a 10-year agreement with the Sydney Opera House. The hospitality group behind The Butler, RAFI, and Bopp & Tone managed to secure and launch operations in just six weeks following a competitive tender process, winning the massive project over long-time custodians Solotel Group.

The news dropped just a few weeks ago, immediately kickstarting speculation in the industry. What does one of our most reliable hospitality groups have in store for Sydney’s most internationally recognised bar? We finally have some answers to what has to date been a fairly divisive tourist attraction.

Divisive because the quality of food, drink and service could never quite match up to the immense promise of its location. Here you have a bar that perfectly symbolises Sydney’s offering to the world, drawing in millions of visitors throughout the year. Of course you want it to be the best representation of Sydney’s food and drink scene possibly. It’s never reached those heights.

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Yet Applejack’s fresh new approach has a chance to completely overhaul how both visitors and locals experience Opera Bar. You’ve still got those gazillion-dollar views hanging right by the harbour, in the imposing shadow of the Sydney Opera House, but there’s a new and exciting direction for everything else: the food, the drink, and the live music.

Culinary Director Patrick Friesen has rebuilt the menu around local NSW producers. Pino’s mortadella from Kogarah, La Stella mozzarella from Auburn, and Westmont pickles from Thirlmere; it’ll be a distinctly local affair, playing into that hyperlocal trend that has been fuelling the hospitality industry for the past few years. The tiger prawn cocktails feature a collaboration hot sauce with The Fermentalists, while the pizza program uses long-fermented dough made with sustainably grown Tamworth wheat.

The commitment to local sourcing matters because Opera Bar serves millions of visitors annually, including international guests whose Sydney food experience often begins and ends with whatever they encounter at major tourist destinations. If Applejack can execute properly, they’re potentially reshaping how visitors understand Sydney’s food culture rather than just serving them acceptable harbour-view meals.

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“Sydney is the most delicious city in the world, and we want to celebrate the people who make it so,” said Friesen.

“We have the incredible opportunity to showcase the producers, growers, and makers who define Sydney’s food culture, from oyster farmers to artisan cheesemakers. We want every dish to celebrate and tell Sydney’s food story.”

On the other side of the scale, House Canteen’s new menu includes coconut chicken curry and grass-fed beef brisket rendang, signalling a Pan-Asian direction.

The music programming partnership with Arts-Matter runs seven nights weekly, featuring everything from acoustic afternoon sets to evening performances. Hopefully, this should translate to much better live music, compared to the hum-drum cover bands that’d regularly shimmy onto Opera Bar’s tiny pop-up stage.

A new era for Circular Quay

Circular Quay’s future is a boozy one, if recent and future openings are anything to go by. Applejack is now bringing Opera Bar into a new era, just months ago we saw the surprisingly reopening of Cruise Bar, and word on the street is that the award-winning Maybe Sammy team are going to revamp the current Hacienda Sydney space that hangs above the Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour hotel.

There’s no word as to whether or not that beige canyon of tourist-baiting restaurants and fast food chains, that sits between the Sydney Opera house and Circular Quay Station, is set to change yet. We can only hope so, given the area is still one of the most visited in the Southern Hemisphere. It’d be a shame if we didn’t at least try to put our best foot forward.

Sydney’s icons step up their game

Opera Bar isn’t the only recent example of hospitality groups stepping up and taking our icons in new directions. After all, these are the first sites that tourists would visit, and their experience decides what they’ll tell their friends back home.

Sydney Tower is another fresh-faced revamp for the city’s most alluring features. It’s always just been a “tourist trap” for many locals, but now they’ve bought on stalwart chef Mark Best to spearhead the dining experience at Sydney’s signature revolving restaurant, Infinity.

Other iconic spots are also looking to big-name hospitality groups and high-profile chefs to offer better experiences to local and guests. Luke Mangan was given the posting for Sydney Harbour Bridge’s unique Pylon Lookout restaurant, for example, and we’ve seen some of the city’s best luxury hotels also step up their dining, like Porter House Hotel, which recently welcomed a Sydney iteration of Melbourne’s famous Lee Ho Fook.

Opera Bar

Address: Sydney Opera House, Lower Concourse Level,
Contact: (02) 9051 1292
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday (11am – 12am)

Cover Image Credit: Steve Woodburn