Indigenous restaurant Midden by Mark Olive to open at Sydney Opera House

Bennelong Point was always somewhere Indigenous people congregated to meet and eat. Now it’s set to become home to a new restaurant with TV chef and Bundjalung man Mark Olive at its helm.

Midden by Mark Olive will open at the Opera House on Tuesday, July 4.

The venue’s name refers to tell-tale mounds of accumulated shells left by previous generations. “It’s like a kitchen, and it was a big meeting place here,” Olive says of the site of his new restaurant, which will slide into the space currently occupied by the Opera House’s harbour-fronted restaurant Portside.

The chef wants to bring a taste of Indigenous ingredients and cuisine to a uniquely Australian building. The menu will include whipped eucalyptus butter with native herb-infused damper, and main courses such as gum-smoked barramundi and quandong-glazed chicken stuffed with warrigal greens.

Olive, a presenter on SBS-TV food show The Chefs’ Line and his own cooking series The Outback Cafe, believes native ingredients have finally “taken the next step” and become accepted in the mainstream food vernacular.

He forged a working relationship with Doltone Hospitality Group and together they pitched the idea of a restaurant. Landing a five-year restaurant in the western foyer of Australia’s most famous building, with views of the harbour, exceeded even Olive’s initial dreams for the project.

They’ll smarten up the interior, add some new tableware, and deck staff out in new uniforms. The restaurant will also offer opportunities for emerging Indigenous restaurant talent.

“I went to film school and love theatre,” Olive says. “To work in a building that’s so [arts driven] and iconic, we can add some culinary art.”