Orchard Tavern and Vivid Chatswood - Lights, food and fun.

Vivid Sydney at Chatswood runs from 26 May – 17 June from 5.30pm – 10.30pm. There's also a great series of Vivid foodie specials to check out. I check out the Orchard Tavern for their Vivid Special.

The roads are blocked off and many families and friends are out and about in Chatswood. It's not as congested as the city which is nice.

There's lots going on in the buildings, shops, streets and laneways of Chatswood CBD. The Vivid website summarises this well with the highlights in Chatswood below

• At Chatswood Interchange more than 9000 spheres glow above in Voxelscape, and a pumping steam engine is created with interactive projection in Gear Shift; 
• A glittering canopy of light in Chatswood Mall leads to Crossword, which sends out barrages of hidden light messages; an explosion of interactive light greets diners as they enter the Asian street-food hot spot, Hawker Lane in Westfield Chatswood; meanwhile, 
• Light Bounce at Chatswood Chase Sydney encourages visitors to wander by day through a sparkling forest of refractive light.
• The façade of The Concourse hosts Future City/Smart City, which follows a flight of whimsical dirigibles to an airbourne, sustainable community; on returning to earth visitors peer into the reflective pool to discover the submerged magic of Steampunk Waterworld.

My favourite Vivid light installations and shows are the giant octopus which is the entrance to Hawker lane. There's drums below and all the kids are going nuts playing them.

I am enjoying the buzz but I'm hungry! Matt and I head to the Orchard Tavern to check out their Vivid Burger. We also have a sneaky drink to warm up. It's amazingly well heated in The Orchard Tavern so I was able to peel a few layers off.

The Orchard Tavern has a Special Vivid Burger ($22). It has a crispy skin pork belly, crispy bacon, pulled pork, peri peri mayo, swiss cheese, rocket and slow roasted tomatoes on a charcoal bun. It also comes with a side of rosemary and seasalt chips w aioli. I'm really enjoying the thicker, crumbly charcoal bun as it holds the meat together very well. You just need a good hand to hold it together.  I'm finding that a lot of buns these days are brioche so they are quite sweet. I like this more savoury, crumbly bun.  

Matt looks completely satisfied and happy biting into the pulled pork pieces and that pork belly. The bacon adds a touch of crunch. It's quite a big burger so make sure you're hungry.  I'd def recommend ordering the vivid burger.

There's also vivid cocktails. Ask the staff for info. This burger is available until 17 June so enjoy my friends!

Overall, I had a really nice walk around Chatswood and satisfied my hunger! Check out tomorrow's post for a dessert Vivid special.

Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of Willoughby City Council. All photos, opinions and words are my own.