Powerhouse Parramatta Announces the Details Behind Its Three On-Site Dining Spaces

When Powerhouse Parramatta opens to the public on Saturday November 7, it’ll be a momentous day for the NSW creative and cultural landscape. The $915 million museum is NSW’s largest cultural infrastructure project since the Opera House. It was first announced by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian in 2017; now, the ambitious project bringing together art, food, history and innovation is just weeks away. When it arrives, museumgoers will also be welcomed into three distinct hospitality venues: Simara, Folded and Green Bar.

Across the trio of venues, you’ll be able to tuck into a chicken Kyiv while perched above the Parramatta River, share a stone-baked puff bread loaded with LP’s smoked sausage, or drink something special in a hidden cocktail bar. Leading the three-piece project is chef Simon Sandall, the owner of Gladesville’s Boronia Kitchen and the head chef of Aria from 1999 to 2007.

“I couldn’t be more proud, if I’m really honest,” Sandall says. “Being an Englishman and coming over to Australia, to do 21 New Year’s Eves at the Sydney Opera House, and then, to be running the Powerhouse food and beverage, it’s a pretty proud moment.”

The centrepiece is Simara, a 290-seat restaurant spanning 600 square-metres, with views over Parramatta River, that heroes produce and native ingredients grown in Powerhouse Parramatta’s rooftop garden. “We’ve been talking very closely with the horticulturalists, creating a planting program that will then feed back into what we serve in the restaurant,” says Sandall. “Lots of native botanicals, which will integrate into the drinks program as well.”

This lofty green space will be open for the public to explore, too. As well as providing produce for the hospitality offerings, it will also serve the Vitocco Family Kitchen, a classroom-style kitchen that’ll first be activated – with chefs like Palisa Anderson, Josh Niland and David Chan – during the museum’s opening festival.

The garden is still in its early stages, so to start the team is focusing on “softer herbs and quick-grow produce” like lemon myrtle, society garlic and borage flower brought over from Boronia Kitchen.

Sandall brings his Boronia Kitchen playbook to both the flagship restaurant and the all-day sandwich spot Folded – exploring his idea of Australian cuisine. “It is so multicultural, it’s a bit of everything. My style of food is very good produce. I look at a dish and try to strip away what I can to make it better and let the produce speak for itself.”

At Simara, this looks like chickpea empanadas and chicken yakitori, smoked taramasalata and XO butter scallops. Plus, slow-cooked lamb rigatoni along with nostalgic classics like chicken Kyiv.

The grill section is dedicated to cuts of meat sourced from Leichhardt’s Great Meats, progressing from 250-gram MB8 Wagyu rostbiff through to a $128 rib eye, both served with an anchovy and garlic bagna cauda.

On to the all-day spot Folded. Here you’ll find LP’s sausage and za’atar chicken atop stone-baked puffy bread, mortadella and pesto piled onto focaccia. It’s also where Sandall’s “bringing back the jaffle”, with a riff using puff pastry and retro fillings like spaghetti and cheese. The team will make ice-cream in-house – in flavours like Pina Colada, acai, and salted caramel and white chocolate, plus one scoop for a jaffle ice-cream sanga.

Sandall and the Powerhouse team remain tight-lipped on Green Bar. There’ll be cocktails utilising produce from the garden, but beyond that the only detail Broadsheet could get is that its name nods to the bright green marble fit-out.

The venues will need to have broad appeal, with the museum expecting to welcome over two million people in its first year. “I really want it to appeal to everyone,” says Sandall. “Whether you’re five or 95. Making sure people feel wowed and comfortable is paramount to what I want to deliver.” 

Simara, Folded and Green Bar will open at Powerhouse Parramatta, 34/47 Phillip Street, Parramatta, on Saturday November 7, 2026. 

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powerhouse.com.au/visit/parramatta