For 23 flame-grilled nights, The Goods Line precinct in Ultimo will turn into protein paradise for Vivid Fire Kitchen, an all-encompassing food and light festival that celebrates the virtue of cooking on an open fire.

Some of the world’s best pitmasters, chefs and BBQ legends are heading on down for the Vivid Food event, bringing all kinds of flame-licked food stalls coupled with live cooking demonstrations, food trucks, and pop-ups from top-rated Sydney restaurants like Firedoor, AALIA and Bar Copains.

The theme for this year, “Fire & Spice,” will have chefs alchemising top local produce in a way not too dissimilar to how they do it down at Dark Mofo’s world-famous Winter Feast in Hobart.

Expect smokey flavours across a whole range of delicious food, building up one big “Fire Kitchen” with dedicated seafood BBQ stands, food trucks like Hoy Pinoy and Burn City Smokers, and BBQ restaurant like Ogni and Brazilian Flame. There’ll even be a vegetarian Indian eatery, Flyover Fritterie, to add some variety and make the festival just as approachable for those with dietaries.

*Vivid Fire Kitchen celebrates open-flame cooking and smokey techniques (photo supplied).*

“It’s fantastic being back in the fire kitchen for the third year running,” says US-based Australian live-fire chef and TV host Jess Pryles, who will be joining other top names like Nyesha Arrington and Lennox Hastie for Vivid Fire Kitchen.

“Getting to work with amazing Aussie produce over an incredible live fire rig is a dream. I think sharing the crowd samplers from the demo is easily my favourite part, and you can count on us to be grilling up some tasty treats.”

Other chefs taking part across the 23 nights include Oscar Solomon of The Apollo Group, Viand’s award-winning Annita Potter, 2024 Chef of the Year Paul Farag, Bar Copain’s Morgan McGlone, Karima Hazim of Sunday Kitchen, Michael Rantissi from Kepos Group, and more.

Freshly seared prawns, smokey grilled fish, South American-style BBQ, vegetarian Indian, steaks, skewers and burnt ends are all on the Vivid Fire Kitchen menu this year. This is the kind of pitmaster love-in that you’ll rarely see outside of dedicated festivals like Meatstock, so to have it part of Vivid Sydney‘s ongoing attempt at platforming all kinds of creativity is something not to be missed.

Sydney’s superstar sommelier Mike Bennie will even be popping up a tiny wine bar with masterclasses and a list of NSW drops.

*Vivid Fire Kitchen brings the warmth to The Goods Line (photo supplied).*

First Nations Night

It’s clear the organisers behind Vivid Sydney are starting the realise that to truly ground this Sydney-centric festival with a sense of place and community, for both locals and visitors, they will find great value in having more First Nations events.

Vivid Fire Kitchen is one of many ways local First Nations culture will be showcased across Vivid 2025.

Select nights will be dubbed “First Nations Nights” for the Vivid Fire Kitchen, showcasing a deep, historic connection between First Nations culture and fire. Here, Indigenous chefs will demonstrate traditional cooking techniques over fire pits, sharing their knowledge of native ingredients and telling of the cultural importance of fire.

The First Nations Nights, like all Vivid Fire Kitchen events, is free to the public every single night of the multi-factor light festival.

Vivid Fire Kitchen Lineup 2025

The Vivid Fire Kitchen line up will change each week of Vivid, with a new chef handling the fire pit. The breakdown across the four weeks is as follows:

Week one: Jess Pryles, Annita Potter
Week two: Karima Hazim, Morgan McClone, Mindy Woods, Paul Farag, Oscar Solomon
Week three: Michael Rantissi, Nyesha Arrington, Lennox Hastie, National Indigenous Culinary Institute
Week four: John McFadden

Must-Try Food Items

There are many different types of foods available at Vivid Fire Kitchen. If you want a bucketlist of just five stalls, however, then we’ve got you. These are some of the many highlights you should be stuffing into your mouth (carefully; these things are hot) from the Vivid Fire Kitchen menu. Note that specific menus won’t be released until closer to Vivid.

Flyover Fritterie
Hoy Pinoy
Burn City Smokers
Mapo Gelato
Ogni

Where is Vivid Fire Kitchen?

Vivid Fire Kitchen is located along The Goods Line, which is a slightly elevated walkway that runs between Central Station and Sydney CBD on the Ultimo side. The Vivid Fire Kitchen will be set up along this line, which is conceived similarly to The High Line in New York and the BeltLine in Atlanta.

How to reach Vivid Fire Kitchen?

The best way to reach Vivid Fire Kitchen from Sydney CBD is by catching a light rail to Haymarket and then walking down through where Hay St Market is.