One of Sydney's most notable dining rooms has entered a new era.
The Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay has just welcomed one of its biggest arrivals yet, with four-level multi-venue destination The Oriana being revealed just in time for Vivid, at the former site of Squires Landing and the much-mourned Quay restaurant.
The sprawling waterfront hub offers a capacity of 1,500 all up. On the ground floor, a beer garden opens out onto a waterfront terrace, with big screens angling firmly at the game night crowd and major sporting events.
The first-floor pub plays it more casually in the daytime, with DJs and a late-night martini menu shifting the dial after 9pm. Across both levels, a classic pub menu namechecks all the heavy hitters – steaks, burgers, parmies and fish and chips – alongside a snackier menu designed for grazers with crowdpleasers like tuna crudo, burrata from Vannella Cheese and salt and pepper squid.
Up on the third floor, within the former Quay dining room, The Oriana Restaurant (opening Friday May 22) has kept the updates to the world-famous space more modest. On the menu, however the feel is more high-end steakhouse than its towering predecessor, with an emphasis on seafood such as a chilled seafood platter and lobster tagliatelle, as well as a largely NSW steak program that ranges from a 200g pasture-fed eye fillet, through to the Riverine T-Bone (at a hefty 1kg, and equally hefty $280).
An events space above tops it off – all with front-row views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, and the busy working harbour between them. The mammoth new build unites the formerly disparate spaces, all under the purview of Australian Venue Co. who took over Peter Gilmore’s beloved fine diner when it closed last year. It borrows its name from SS Oriana, one of the first great ocean liners to berth in Sydney, and is likely going to become one of the first ports of calls for cruise ship crowds.
The opening has come just in time to welcome the Vivid crowds, with a special $149pp Vivid set menu planned from its first service on May 22, alongside the a la carte offering.
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