Goods Line becomes barbecue spectacular

Fire sculptures, flame shooters and a line-up of internationally acclaimed chefs will set The Goods Line ablaze during the largest-yet installation of Vivid Fire Kitchen, festival organisers announced today.

Lennox Hastie (Firedoor, Surry Hills), will join chef and cookbook author Christine Manfield (Indian Cooking Class), Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt (Ekstedt, Stockholm), US television personality Jess Pryles (Pitmaster) and others for a series of fire-fuelled culinary demonstrations and food stalls set to line the repurposed railway track.

Vivid Fire Kitchen was introduced as part of Vivid’s first food program in 2023, when it attracted 120,000 visitors overa month-long run at The Cut in Barangaroo. Festival director Gill Minervini says this year will be even hotter.

“We are really amping up the atmosphere and ambience by using a lot more fire … it’s going to be a major improvement on what we’ve done before,” he says of the free, festival-long event.

Can’t take the heat? Then head to one of Sydney’s participating kitchens − Michelin-starred restaurants from Brazil, Singapore and the UK are sending their head chefs to Sydney for a series of pop-up residencies and collaborations during Vivid.

Manoella “Manu” Buffara, chef-founder of Manu Restaurant in Brazil, will headline the program with a residency at Ploos (The Rocks).

Buffara (who also worked briefly at Noma) gained international recognition in 2022 when she becamethe World’s 50 Best Latin American female chef of the year. The accolade recognised Buffara for her hyper-local, casual fine-dining menu; her role as the first woman to serve a tasting-only menu in Brazil; and her community projects, which have involved setting up a series of urban farms and beehives.

It won’t be the first time Buffara has taken her cooking overseas, having set out to defy international expectations of Brazilian cuisine by opening her second restaurant, Ella, in New York City in 2019.

“We will use techniques and ideas from Manu in Brazil to bring a touch of Brazilian flavours to this pop-up,” Buffara says.

“We are bringing to Australia the philosophy of sustainable resource use that we have already implemented in Brazil, integrating it with local flavours and ingredients.”

Max Coen (Dorian, UK), Sally Abé (The Pem, UK) and Ivan Brehm (Nouri, Singapore) will also host collaborative dinners at Fred’s (Paddington), The Charles Grand Brasserie (Sydney), and Aalia (Sydney), respectively.

Over at Sydney Opera House, culinary director and Good Food contributor Danielle Alvarez will be back on the tools for two nights for Culinary Canvas. The three-course meal, overlooking the light installations of the harbour at Circular Quay, will be sound tracked by live performances by ARIA-award winning artist Katie Noonan.

Today’s announcements round out the Vivid food program, which also includes a series of social enterprise dinners from acclaimed Australian chefs such as Alex Prichard (Icebergs Dining Room & Bar), Peter Gilmore (Quay) and Guillaume Brahimi (Bistro Guillaume), held at Refettorio OzHarvest.

Tickets go on sale on the Vivid Food website today.

External to the official line-up, Good Food Events will take over the food hall at Quay Quarter Tower on Vivid opening night withTuck Shop: transforming it into a ’90s themed high school canteen manned by celebrity chefs.

While the headliners are yet to be revealed, there will be stalls from the likes of Belles Hot Chicken; homemade pizza pockets from social enterprise hospitality group Plate it Forward, raising funds for theirhumanitarian initiatives in Kyiv, Colombo and Kabul; and a cake stall from Christopher Thé, the creator of the cult-favourite strawberry watermelon cake at Black Star Pastry.

More information is set to be announced next week.