Acclaimed chef David Moyle is returning to Melbourne from Byron Bay (where he’s chief of food at Harvest and Barrio) to headline Rising’s culinary line-up.

A 130-seat luminescent glasshouse – dubbed The Lighthouse – will be perched on the amphitheatre of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and serve sit-down three-course dinners of freshwater fish and ethically sourced meat from Provenir.

“I am hell-bent on the idea of a great contemporary restaurant in a festival, it excites me,” Moyle says. “Why can’t we be eating really good food in an environment that isn’t where we usually go for meals? Festivals don’t have to be all dagwood dogs.”

Chef David Moyle will have his own pop-up restaurant at Rising Festival.
Chef David Moyle will have his own pop-up restaurant at Rising Festival.  Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen


Lighthouse diners will be treated to a raw meat dish, vegetables and grilled mussels, while the main course of river trout is smoked to order.

“It’s not American barbecue-style, it’s a light cure and smoke,” Moyle says. “I am trying to create a rustic-cottage-in-the-forest-and-smoking-fish feeling.”

Moyle’s menu is intended to highlight his ethical food sourcing practices, but it’s also a subtle dig at “seaspiracy” theorists.

“Cancel culture has fed into the food scene and everyone is now looking for the right answer to be vegan and help the earth,” Moyle says.

“I intentionally put fish on the menu because of that. I want to highlight there is good fishing practices and eating it isn’t a bad thing. It’s starting to drive me nuts.”

The wine list at The Lighthouse is curated by Blackhearts & Sparrows co-founder Jess Ghaie.

The arts and culture festival’s program includes food and beverage choices throughout the city. The Wilds, which is also set in the Bowl’s vicinity, features two pop-up kitchens.

In Kitchen One, Shannon Martinez (Smith and Daughters, Lona Misa) will reinvent her restaurant dishes for punters, with  chefs Ian Curley (her Lona Misa partner), Dom Wilton of Hector’s Deli and 1800 Lasagne’s Joey Kellock joining in.

Charlie Carrington’s Atlas Dining is popping up in Kitchen Two, serving a menu partnership with the folks who gave us Bar Saracen, plus other guest chefs.

Along Birrarung Marr you’ll find food by Meatsmith such as charcoal-grilled snacks, fried chicken sandwiches with fennel glaze and slow-cooked beef short rib with pickled daikon radish.

The Stock Exchange outside Melbourne Town Hall is a hearty street-side soup stall with everything on offer from Japanese miso ramen to French consomme.

Wine lovers with a palate for natural, organic and minimal-intervention wines should head to Veraising at Melbourne Town Hall on Saturday, June 5 where more than 200 wines from 30 independent local and international winemakers are up for tasting.

Rising Festival takes place across Melbourne from May 26–June 6.

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