Vivid food: Food trucks, First Nations dining, fire pits and more

More than just lights are lighting up this year’s Vivid Sydney Festival.

A roaring fire to warm up the night, the scent of roasting meat floating on the air and food trucks lining the city: Vivid kicks off tonight and the light displays aren’t the only drawcard. In fact, the Vivid food lineup is worth a trip on its own.

Vivid Fire Kitchen

Returning to The Goods Line in Ultimo, Vivid Fire Kitchen will share 23 nights of live fire cooking as part of Vivid Food 2025. See leading some of Australia’s finest chefs, as well as pitmasters and barbecue experts from around the world show you how it’s done, all following the Vivid theme of ‘Dream’.

“It’s fantastic being back in the fire kitchen for the third year running," said live fire cook Jess Pryles, who will appear at Vivid Fire Kitchen in 2025 for the third year running. “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 favorite part – and you can count on us to be grilling up some tasty treats".

Also on this year’s program, catch acclaimed American chef and TV personality Nyesha Arrington, the award-winning chef behind Viand, Annita Potter, organ McGlone of Bar Copains and many more.

See live demonstrations. (Image: Destination NSW)

Free to attend, a continual lineup of food trucks – including Hoy Pinoy’s Filipino skewers, Burn City Smokers with South American-style BBQ, Pocket Rocketz’ unique take on vegetarian Indian cuisine and dessert ooptions like Mapo Gelato, Mr Spanish Churro, Miss Sina Korean Donuts and many more – will keep guests well fed each night. If you’re more seafood than barbeque, stop by the seafood BBQ stand for flame-grilled favourites like seared prawns and smoky grilled fish.

A dedicated wine bar will showcase a selection of NSW wines. Check the schedule to catch a masterclass at the bar, led by expert Mike Bennie, as well as curated wine pairings by NSW Wine Industry Association with dishes prepared by local and international pitmasters at the fire pit stage.

Taste delicious flavours. (Image: Destination NSW)

Food trucks

Speaking of food trucks, you’ll find plenty around the festival outside of Vivid Fire Kitchen. Explore global flavours (in between global sounds) at Tumbalong Park. Enter an archway of light into this mini food hub with tasty wines, beers and cocktails, Korean fried chicken from Birdman, Mexican from Ash’s Nachos, Japanese doughnuts from Mochii Mochii and more.

Or, take a mid-light walk break at Barangaroo. Here, the highlight has to be blacklight-reactive desserts at the immersive Blacklight Dessert Lab. Think doughnuts, cheesecake and ice cream that glow under a UV light.

Dream Mist

Book a seat at this Botanic Gardens of Sydney table for an after-dark three-course Vietnamese-inspired menu by chef Luke Nguyen. Expect blending bold flavours and personal storytelling, as well as an interactive wishing tree for guests to share their dreams with. Oh, and keep the experience going with a take-home bottle of Dream Mist botanical perfume.

Neon Dreams

Not only is this event a roller-disco dream, it will feature a delicious plant-based dinner by vegan masterchef Shannon Martinez and Trolley’d, exclusively for Vivid. Wash down your veggie burger with a milkshake or cocktail whipped up by Trolly’d bar.

Grab a milkshake and burger. (Image: Destination NSW)

Hollywood Dreaming

If your nostalgia and neon cravings aren’t yet satisfied, head to Foster Street in Surry Hills on 31 May for Hollywood Dreaming. The street will shut down to traffic to make way for an al fresco food festival within a festival. Watch live music and roving performers while feasting on the best of Sydney dishes from the likes of Firedoor, Nomad, Gildas, Nel, Kiln, Poly, Brooklyn Boy Bagels and Butter.

Rooftop dining

Be sure to check out the best of Sydney’s rooftop bars for drinks, snacks and a delectable view of the Vivid lights, all festival long. You’ll find our top picks here.

a couple watching the lights of Vivid Sydney at Aster, InterContinental Sydney

Watch the dancing lights of Vivid Sydney atop the InterContinental Sydney.

The Native Food Experience

Celebrate First Nations culture and cuisine at The Native Food Experience. Held at NSW Parliament House, Parliament of NSW executive chef Vanessa Harcourt will collaborate with pioneering First Nations chef Dwayne Bannon-Harrison to create an equal parts tasty and thought-provoking degustation. Expect a menu that heroes native Australian produce, from rainforest fruits and coastal seafood to game meats and desert botanicals, all to tell a story of Country, culture and community.

Welcome to the first instalment of Hotel Addict, a monthly column where I check into Australia’s best hotels, exploring not just the rooms, but the stories, service and settings that make each stay unforgettable and worth adding to your wishlist.

Hotel stays have quietly become my thing. Long before I became a travel journalist, I was booking staycations just for a change of scenery. Some had charm, some had character, some had neither. Once, I even stayed in a hotel directly opposite my own apartment – partly for the novelty, partly because I wanted to see my life from a different angle.

For me, hotels represent a kind of mystery – I find myself wanting to know what these buildings contain. Many of them are designed with intention: lighting, materials, scent and sounds that often reflect the city they sit in. Time seems to gently pause in these spaces, which have increasingly become the destination itself for modern travellers.

It only felt fitting for the first hotel in this series to be in my home city and at the hotel that’s been at the top of my list: Capella Sydney.

A sandstone heritage building and palm trees

Capella sits within an Edwardian Baroque‑style sandstone building.

An email with a hotel program from the “Culturist Team” lets me know this will be a luxurious stay. There’s a guided walk around the Botanic Gardens, a weaving workshop and a Sydney contemporary art tour – the kind of addition that signals a hotel that’s tuned into the finer details, and one that’s not surprising given that Capella’s ethos centres on delivering personalised, immersive experiences.

Capella opened in 2023 within a transformed Edwardian Baroque‑style sandstone building in Sydney’s CBD that was originally designed by renowned Scottish-Australian architect George McRae. I often walk past this building and once attended an event inside – I distinctly remember being surprised by how beautiful it was. Bar Studio, Make Architects, and stylist Simone Haag were engaged to sensitively adapt the building for contemporary luxury while honouring its past, in collaboration with Heritage NSW and the City of Sydney.

When I arrive, I’m greeted by three different staff members along the way to reception. There’s a lovely subtle scent, which I later learn combines notes of bergamot, green tea leaves, peony, freesia, vetiver and cedarwood. This hotel strikes such a beautiful balance between grandness and intimacy, with large floral bouquets, contemporary artworks, impressively high ceilings that give it an international feel and quieter nooks to unwind in. Each space is unique, but they’re all unified by a warm, textural and layered design.

Sydney has been deserving of a hotel of this calibre for quite some time, with many of the accommodations in the city looking and feeling dated.

A modern hotel reception with high ceilings

The design strikes the perfect balance between grandness and intimacy.

I have a treatment booked at the hotel’s Auriga Spa prior to check-in. The space is ultra-luxe, moodily lit and intimate, featuring timber joinery, green walls and a sleek design that’s so perfect it almost transports me to Japan. I opt for the Replenish Beauty and LED Facial – a strategic choice with a TV segment on the horizon, and a hopeful bid to look extra fresh for the camera.

The treatment begins with me sitting in the softest robe of my life, wearing slippers and sipping chamomile tea. I’m then whisked away to my private treatment room, which has its own bathroom, a large skylight and a small Japanese-style garden. The treatment is extremely relaxing and moves through cleansing, exfoliating, massaging (arm, head, neck and face) and LED Light Therapy. There’s so much attention to detail – even at the end, the facialist puts my slippers back on me, while I’m still lying down.

Spa treatment room with a massage bed, featuring timber walls and a serene Japanese-style garden visible through a window.

A treatment at Auriga Spa might be the best way I’ve ever started a hotel stay. (Image: Rachael Thompson)

While this treatment certainly hasn’t had a Benjamin Button effect, my sister seems to think I’m glowing, so I walk away happy, or at the very least, zen.

Auriga Spa has a sauna, steam room, ice fountain and a beautiful indoor heated swimming pool. There’s also “experiential showers” – new to me, but essentially it combines water flowing from different places, changing temperatures, mood lighting, gentle sounds, and a subtle lemongrass scent.

You could easily spend the better part of a day at the spa and pool, even if you’re not a guest.

The indoor heated swimming pool with glass ceiling at Capella Sydney.

Guests outside the hotel can use the spa and swimming pool. (Image: Rachael Thompson)

I’m escorted to my room, drunk on relaxation, but I make sure to take note of how noisy the hallways are – answer: dead quiet. My room is 50 square metres, which is huge by hotel standards, but particularly for one in the CBD. It feels like a high-end apartment with floorboards, a freestanding bath and a seating/dining area. My eyes are immediately drawn to the line-up of macarons waiting for me on the dining table.

I’m thrilled to see the mini bar armoire includes a small wine fridge stocked with Minuty Prestige Côtes de Provence, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Handpicked Wines Pinot Noir, and Moët Grand Vintage. Not that I plan on using it (I simply could not justify the prices) – but it’s a nice extra that makes the room feel that much more luxurious. The drinks lineup reads like a who’s-who of local favourites – Young Henrys, Maybe Sammy cocktails, Four Pillars gin and Archie Rose gin. Snacks include Tyrell’s chips, Pringles, Natural Confectionery lollies, and a Carman’s oat bar.

Some small touches I appreciate that some hotels don’t offer: the option to choose your housekeeping time, an iron that actually works well, a Bluetooth speaker, the beloved wine fridge, aluminium water bottles and a bathroom without a glass door or screen that awkwardly exposes you. The one downside is that some of these rooms don’t offer much in the way of a view.

A modern hotel room with a monochrome paletter.

I stayed in a Premier Room which was elegant and relaxing. (Image: Rachael Thompson)

4:30pm is Swill Hour – a daily tradition that nods to the historical “six o’clock swill” in Australia. This one-hour event takes place in the Living Room and invites guests to gather and enjoy each other’s company with a signature cocktail in hand. This afternoon’s tipple is a Eucalyptus Gimlet, a clever, herbaceous little cocktail, by the multi-award-winning Maybe Sammy Team, served on coasters depicting drawings of the historic building. The canapé of the day is a tomato and stracciatella tart. I noticed several staff members chatting with guests like old friends, asking how their adventures earlier in the day went – clearly remembering previous conversations from earlier visits.

Dinner is booked for 6:30pm in Aperture – arguably the most beautiful area of the accommodation. It’s decorated with Australian flora and features a kinetic sculpture hanging from the roof that opens like flowers, with softly changing lights. Tyler, who is serving us, clearly admires the Capella brand, speaking enthusiastically about the other international properties he’s been to and sharing how he sometimes brings his five-year-old daughter here to use the pool.

Interior of Aperture at Capella Sydney, featuring lush greenery and a striking ceiling-mounted sculpture.

The scale of Aperture gives it an international feel.

I kick things off with a basil melon margarita – a winning recommendation – before tucking into the best prawn toast I’ve ever had. For mains it’s crispy Ōra King salmon and spaghetti with mud crab.

When I arrive back at my room, there’s a vegan leather journal on my bed with a note that says: “The ritual of journaling allows us to pause, reflect and focus.” This is part of the turndown service, and my slippers are neatly lined up next to my bed. Will I journal? No. Do I think it’s a nice touch? Yes.

Brasserie 1930 at Capella Sydney, where Art Deco elegance meets contemporary Australian cuisine.

Brasserie 1930 boasts Art Deco elegance.

The next morning, I make the predictable choice of smashed avo for breakfast at the on-site restaurant, Brasserie 1930. There’s also a buffet brimming with all the usual suspects.

Afterwards, I head to the pool to relax for a few hours before the 11am checkout. Despite my earlier resolve not to journal, I find myself reflecting nonetheless – an irony not lost on me – on my 21st hotel stay in Sydney. I write this with growing assurance that great hotels don’t just provide a place to stay; they create memorable moments, thanks in large part to fantastic staff. Kudos to the hiring manager.

Next stop: The Tasman, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Hobart!

Food trucks, diners and fire pits: The Vivid food events not to miss

More than just lights are lighting up this year’s Vivid Sydney Festival.

Vivid Fire Kitchen

Food trucks

Dream Mist

Neon Dreams

Hollywood Dreaming

Rooftop dining

The Native Food Experience

Travellers get relief as Sydney Airport introduces flat-rate taxi fares

This iconic Bondi venue is about to land at Sydney Airport

Soft Forest: A free, immersive show is on in this historic Sydney garden

Be transported to an Italian summer at this new Sydney restaurant

I’ve stayed in 21 hotels in Sydney and this is my favourite

Welcome to the first instalment of Hotel Addict, a monthly column where I check into Australia’s best hotels, exploring not just the rooms, but the stories, service and settings that make each stay unforgettable and worth adding to your wishlist.