Chef Luke Mangan Is Opening a Pop-Up Restaurant in One of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylons

Chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan (Luke’s Kitchen) has teamed up with Bridgeclimb to launch a pop-up restaurant in the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s south-eastern pylon. On Thursday and Friday nights from November 17 to December 22, diners will ascend 200 steps to the viewing deck of the historic pylon to enjoy a three-course meal as the sun sets over the harbour.

Each course will be paired with a glass of Penfolds wine, including its famous Grange – and, to ensure you can make it back down those 200 stairs without a stumble, there’s a strict limit of one drink per course. Snacks and a glass of champagne will be served on arrival, then diners will sit around a 20-person communal table with panoramas of the harbour, city and surrounds from the wraparound viewing deck. The meal might include Sydney rock oysters with a mignonette dressing, hiramasa kingfish sashimi with sesame and dashi dressing, and beef fillet with mushroom puree.

As guests make their way up to 87 metres above sea level through the granite pylon’s interior, a Bridgeclimb guide will take them through the bridge’s history.

While the diner will offer a special experience, it harkens back to an April Fool’s Day jape from 2016. On April 1, 2016 Gourmet Traveller broke the “news” that the Quay team, including chef Peter Gilmore, would be launching a restaurant on the Harbour Bridge. The experience would begin with drinks and snacks in the south-eastern pylon, with guests making their way to each of the other four pylons in something of a progressive dinner. Alas, “plans” to install rooftop gardens across the arch that would supply the restaurant have not come to fruition.

Luke’s Table at the Lookout runs from 6pm–9pm on Thursday and Friday nights from November 17 to December 22. Tickets are $295 and on sale now.

bridgeclimb.com