Learn from ‘extraordinary figures in Australian food’ at Powerhouse Parramatta launch

Josh Niland, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander are among the celebrated chefs and food personalities scheduled to appear at Powerhouse Parramatta during its 23-day opening festival, commencing November 7.

Food will play a central role at the $915 million western Sydney institution, which will kick off its first in-house food program with a series of cooking demonstrations, dinners and discussions ranging from $15 to $50 a ticket.

“The opening festival feels deeply aligned with what Powerhouse Parramatta aspires to be – a place where culture is not simply presented to audiences, but made with, by and for communities,” says Powerhouse Parramatta associate Kylie Kwong.

“Coming from a Chinese extended family, I feel a personal connection to the multicultural communities of western Sydney and an understanding of the ways food carries family history, identity and belonging across generations.”

The museum has spent years preparing for this moment, having appointed Kwong as an associate in 2024. Together with a dedicated food team, the chef assisted in building ties within the local food community, curating sold-out events to showcase businesses such as Harris Park restaurant IndoChainese and Australia’s largest insect protein farm, Circle Harvest.

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That investment paid off this week when three of the food program’s inaugural events sold out within days: the Family DINEasties feast hosted by Kwong with writers Lee Tran Lam and Kevin La, presented in collaboration with the SBS Food show of the same name.

“The festival ... brings together extraordinary figures in Australian food,” says Kwong.

Three-hatted Saint Peter chef Josh Niland will share his pioneering scale-to-tail seafood philosophy, and leading figures featured in the Powerhouse’s Australian Culinary Archive – including Maggie Beer, Neil Perry and Good Food Guide Bill Granger Trailblazer award recipient Sharon Winsor – will gather on November 9 to tell the stories that have shaped Australia’s food culture.

Other standout events (with tickets still available at the time of publication) include demonstrations from Chat Thai restaurateur Palisa Anderson and Hai Au Lang Nuong (Canley Vale) owner-chef Ben Nguyen.

“[Food] is super democratic – it brings in these people, like cooks or entrepreneurs or researchers, who are not traditionally involved in museum programming per se, but they contribute so much to the arts and sciences,” says Powerhouse Parramatta producer Cheyenne Bardos.

Events will be held throughout the new building, which took more than four years to construct and houses a working rooftop garden led by the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, a full commercial kitchen and a 200-seat amphitheatre demonstration kitchen.

Simon Sandall, owner-chef of Gladesville restaurant Boronia Kitchen, will take over the in-house restaurant, with a new but yet-to-be-named culinary venture from the owner-chef.

“We want people to be able to come to the food program and see themselves and their work reflected in that, whether it’s their culture or the things they like to eat or the way they like to come together through food,” says Bardos. “There’s so much depth and richness and complexity there.”

Powerhouse Parramatta opens to the public on Saturday, November 7. Its opening festival will include 179 events, 65 per cent of which are free-of-charge, spanning from First Nations culture to space and science. The full program and tickets are available at powerhouse.com.au.