Opera Bar Reopens to Celebrate Sydney, Everyday
7 September 2020
Australia’s iconic harbourfront bar has a revamped, local menu and is taking bookings for the first time.
Matt Moran and Solotel welcome Sydneysiders back to Opera Bar from Thursday 10 September, just in time for spring. Australian producers are the heroes in the venue’s new food, wine, and cocktail menus all designed to enjoy in the sunshine against a stellar harbourfront backdrop.
For the first time ever, guests can now also guarantee some of the best views in town with the majority of Opera Bar tables bookable for groups of up to 10 people. There’s also $5 Wilson Parking for guests with bookings on evenings and weekends, for a limited time only.
The new food menu celebrates local and Australian produce and features a greater seafood focus. Opt for the fresh Spencer Gulf (SA) Hiromasa kingfish ceviche or heirloom tomato salad, enjoy a classic Opera Bar NSW south coast Ling fish burger, or go all out with the hot and cold seafood platter. What was the Raw Bar is now an impressive pop-up Japanese Temaki & Saké Bar, serving deliciously fresh hand rolls and saké cocktails.
In support of local winemakers, Opera Bar’s entire still wine list is now all-Australian. And, tripling the number of Australian spirits behind the bar as well as making many of the cocktail syrups and cordials in-house using locally-sourced ingredients means there’s a raft of new cocktails that are 100% Australian. The Sydney Sling (Four Pillars gin with PS smoked lemonade) and Wizards of Oz (Starward whiskey, Mr Black coffee liqueur, Adelaide Hills bitter orange, wattleseed and vanilla foam) are perfect examples.
“I reckon there’s no place quite as picturesque as Opera Bar to kick off spring in Sydney,” says owner Matt Moran. “For us, this spring is going to be different than those before. We have had a challenging six months and there’s been a lot of reflection on what Opera Bar should be when it reopens. We know our customer has changed – there’s no tourists, we’re now a destination for Sydneysiders. We also want to do our bit to support local businesses however we can. So, we’ve made some big changes including putting local producers front and centre across our menus along with making it easier to get a table, and creating experiences that are specifically catered to a local audience. Now we just need Sydney to get behind us!”
To get the good times rolling, Opera Bar has a series of new experiences on offer:
• Japanese Temaki & Saké Bar: the first in a pop-up series at Opera Bar over spring/summer transforming what was the Raw Bar area. Bringing a Japanese influence to Australian seafood - there’s deliciously fresh and crunchy miso salmon, yuzu kingfish, or prawn hand rolls and sashimi alongside a saké highball and saké slushie with bubble tea pearls. Available from Thursday 17 September for a limited time.
• Opera Bar Brunch Club: together with Grey Goose, Opera Bar invites groups of friends to the ultimate waterfront brunch every Saturday and Sunday through to November. Get the weekend started with live music, Grey Goose cocktails and a set menu of seasonal shared dishes for $59. Bookings essential.
Opera Bar is committed to being a COVID-safe environment. In order to ensure the health and safety of all, the venue will implement a series of detailed COVID-safe measures, including sign-in upon entry for all guests, contactless ordering available via the ME&U app, cleaning all customer touchpoints after every use, hand sanitising stations as well as practising social distancing between tables.