The Carriageworks Night Market will bring together a line-up of Sydney’s best bars, restaurants and producers, showcasing incredible local produce and promoting sustainable food practices. I have curated a huge range of incredible food and drink offerings that celebrate native Australian produce, champion the use of under-utilised ingredients, or are entirely plant-based, all with a commitment to minimising waste.
Night Market visitors will also be poured drinks – including world-class no-waste cocktails, incredible natural wines and wild ales – by some of the best bars, distillers and brewers in NSW. We hope visitors will come away with a renewed understanding of the wider environmental impact of their food choices, and an appreciation for the small positive changes they can make to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Here are my top five picks for what to check out at this special Vivid edition of Carriageworks Night Market.
Three Blue Ducks
Three Blue Ducks chef Mark LaBrooy is a huge advocate of hunting and harvesting wild-caught game, in an effort to address the current management of animals considered invasive species that pose an environmental threat.
LaBrooy’s team will be serving some incredible Sambar deer skewers; it’s a delicious and insanely nutrient-dense meat, which I really encourage visitors to try. Other highlights that follow a similar sustainability philosophy include wild boar tacos from Ricos Tacos, and a rabbit and rice soup from Bush. There will also be dishes that remind us to reconsider our consumption of more traditional ingredients, such as Rockpool’s dish for the night, which utilises retired dairy cattle in place of farmed beef.
Re–
I am really excited to welcome multi-award-winning bar Re– as my special guest to present a very special menu at the Curator’s Stage area. Visitors can drop past the stage and listen to me chatting with an incredible line-up of fascinating speakers, while sipping on delicious cocktails that focus on local ingredients, innovation and taste, while minimising waste. I’m particularly looking forward to trying the mulled wine, which uses waste red wine from P&V, calvados, mandarin, spices and madeira.
There will also be lots of other great bars serving some of the best natural wines and wild ales from across NSW, including Wildflower Brewing & Blending, which creates its ales using grains – that have been wholly fermented by a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native flowers in NSW – from regenerative organic farms.
Ozharvest
A focus on minimising waste is at the core of Ozharvest’s philosophy. Its menu for the Night Market is designed to be zero-waste, with sustainably sourced vegetarian ingredients used in dishes like rice noodles with mushroom XO, miso tahini and a chickpea crunch. And the best part is that no food is wasted – any leftovers are redistributed to people in need.
I believe the future of eating has to involve eating less meat in general, and the meat that we do eat should come from sustainable and ethical sources. There will be lots of other great vegan and vegetarian offerings on the night, including pizzas from vegan cheesemakers La Petite Fauxmagerie, curries from Yulli’s and vegan pies from social enterprise Two Good Co.
Brix Distillers
I’m excited to highlight some great sustainable collaborations between local businesses such as Brix Distillery and Bourke Street Bakery. Brix will be serving a specialty cocktail made using its limited-release Trail Mix rum, which has been infused with byproducts (excess pastries, fruits and spices) from the Bourke Street Bakery kitchens. They will be serving their cocktail alongside a specially produced prune and rum tart from Bourke Street Bakery.
Gelato Messina
For those with a sweet tooth there will be lots of great options on the night, including Gelato Messina’s apple galette, made using rescued apples from Farmers Pick, served warm with a scoop of roasted-cinnamon gelato and drizzled with calvados caramel.
We have other stalls serving sweet treats making clever use of ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, such as Vannella’s ricotta cannoli, which is made with its whey byproduct ricotta, crushed pistachio and icing sugar.
Carriageworks Night Market for Vivid Sydney, curated by Matt Stone, runs from 5pm to 10pm on June 16. Tickets are $15.
carriageworks.com.au
@chefmattstone