Midden

In the breathtaking Western Foyers of the Sydney Opera House, Midden by Mark Olive is an indoor/outdoor Australian eatery drawing from the Bundjalung chef’s Indigenous heritage to hero Australian ingredients like wattle seed, bush honey, saltbush and succulents.

Referring to the area’s rich natural resources including oysters (the shells of which were collected in towering middens), the restaurant offers lunch and dinner daily, as well as matinee high teas on Wednesdays and weekends to pair with a performance at the iconic site.

The seasonal menus are adorned with vibrant flavours, with launch dishes including damper infused with native herbs served alongside whipped eucalyptus butter, wallaby shanks braised in bush tomato, and quandong-glazed chicken stuffed with warrigal greens.

A grazing plate with native thyme hummus, smoked kangaroo, emu, lemon myrtle tandoori crocodile, olives, pickled vegetables, marinated artichoke, roasted macadamia nuts, quandong paste, NSW regional cheeses and Tasmanian mountain pepper leaf flatbread provides the perfect pre- or post-show nibble.

“I could not be prouder to follow in the pioneering footsteps of leading Indigenous Australians like Rhoda Roberts, Justine Saunders and Stephen Page who have brought incredible First Nations storytelling to this place over the past 50 years,” says Mark Olive.

“The land on which the Opera House stands was a gathering place for ceremony and culture for thousands of years before the building itself was ever conceived and I hope the menu we’ve created will give guests a real taste of that millennia-old history and maybe even inspire some to cook with our vibrant native ingredients at home too."

Image credit: Sydney Opera House (Yazzen Omar)

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