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Yotam Ottolenghi often visits for talks, but this time he’ll be in the kitchen. He’s one of the headline acts for Vivid Sydney.
Yotam Ottolenghi has visited Australia many times to talk about food. This time, he’ll be cooking.
Following Nigella Lawson’s sold-out dinner series in 2025, Vivid Sydney has secured the Israeli-born British chef, restaurateur and cookbook author to headline its annual celebration of light, with a dinner on May 29 and a lunch on May 30. The event will be held at an event space in Martin Place, with tickets priced at $340 per person.
Author of the acclaimed Plenty and Simple, Ottolenghi is celebrated for his bold, vegetable-led approach to cooking. He runs restaurants Nopi and Rovi in London, and is credited with globalising Middle Eastern flavours, making once-niche ingredients such as tahini and sumac essential household staples.
Ottolenghi sees his appearance at Vivid as more than just a visit. It is, he says, a chance to “celebrate the outstanding produce” of NSW. In fact, he’ll use only locally grown ingredients for the two events.
A Shared Table with Yotam Ottolenghi will be the only internationally led event on this year’s Vivid Food program. For the rest of the line-up, new festival director Brett Sheehy has turned the spotlight on NSW with the hope that it encourages further exploration around the state.
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“In a vast program of events, for me, the standout series is the Regional Dinner Series,” says Sheehy. “Having had the opportunity to travel widely, nationally and internationally, it’s clear that NSW food culture and produce are incomparable.”
The Regional Dinner Series pairs Sydney chefs with regional chefs for collaborative dinners at some of the city’s leading restaurants.
Kicking off the series is a partnership between restaurateur Alessandro Pavoni and Frank Fawkner, whose Hunter Valley restaurant, EXP., was named the 2026 Good Food Guide Regional Restaurant of the Year. Held at two-hatted a’Mare on May 24, the dinner promises a fusion of Fawkner’s regional ingenuity and Pavoni’s signature elegance, transplanting the heart of wine country to the city.
On May 25 and 26, Ben Devlin, of two-hatted Pottsville restaurant Pipit, will join chef Lennox Hastie at Firedoor, to explore the ingredients and culinary influences of the Tweed Coast.
“The subtropical climate of the Tweed Coast allows our region to grow more diverse things than most other NSW regions,” says Devlin. He’s excited to introduce South-East Asian and South American fruits, plants and vegetables onto plates at Firedoor.
Other collaborations include Troy Rhoades-Brown from Hunter Valley restaurant Muse with Nicholas Hill at his Paddington eatery Porcine; Southern Highlands chef Stephen Santucci from Moonacres Kitchen will join Scott McComas-Williams at his city eatery Palazzo Salato; and Tweed Coast chef and author Christine Manfield will cook with Sander Nooij at his Potts Point venue, Yellow.
The series also includes Culture in Motion, a multisensory dining experience held at Sydney Opera House’s Yallamundi Rooms on May 22 and 23.
Bundjalung chef Mindy Woods is teaming up with the venue’s culinary director, Danielle Alvarez, for a deep dive into the flavours and traditions of the NSW North Coast, complemented by Indigenous art and live music.
The menu will feature Bundjalung foods that Woods has grown, gathered and sourced. “This season we’ve been fortunate to have a bumper crop of boonyi [bunya nuts],” says Woods. “I’m also excited to share native tamarind, a rare rainforest food that many people have never had the opportunity to taste.”
Vivid Fire Kitchen, the festival food hub which is on every evening, finds a new home this year, the Stargazer Lawn in Barangaroo. There are open-fire cooking demonstrations and tastings led by chefs Mark Best of Infinity by Mark Best and Annita Potter from Thai restaurant Viand, alongside MasterChef’s Julie Goodwin and Lebanese-Australian cook Karima Hazim, from Rosebery cooking school Sunday Kitchen.
There are also pop-up dining experiences at Parliament House, The Mint and other unexpected venues, alongside special menus and one-off events at The International, Shell House, Infinity by Mark Best, and more.
For more information or to book, head to vividsydney.com.
