Chef Jake Nicolson on Night Feast’s best eats, fancy kebabs and cooking creatively

We’re excited to hear that Ghanem Group venues will be part of Night Feast 2026! The festival attracts a huge audience, including plenty of people who may be trying Donna Chang or Blackbird for the first time. How do you decide which dish best represents each venue in that setting?

For me it comes down to one question – if someone’s only going to taste one thing from us, what do we want them to remember? Each venue has got its own personality, so I pick the dish that tells that story straight away, no explanation needed. It’s got to hit hard on the first bite and make people want to come find us afterwards.

Donna Chang is serving Donna’s Kebab and Blackbird is debuting its BFC with quandong chilli caramel. When creating a dish for Night Feast, what makes something festival-worthy, and how do you balance creativity, flavour and broad appeal?

Festival food has got to travel well and still taste like you cooked it just for that one person, which is harder than it sounds. I always start with the produce — that quandong caramel on the BFC came from wanting to put something proper Australian on the plate that most people haven’t tried before. Get the flavour right and the creativity looks after itself – you don’t want to be too clever for the sake of it.

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Better Off Red is one of the standout events on this year’s Night Feast program – an immersive long lunch where food, art and the senses collide with a bold menu of ‘crimson hues’. How did that creative brief influence the menu and your approach to the dining experience?

Cooking to a colour was a fun challenge – it made me lean straight into the wood fire, because there’s nothing more crimson than a rib-eye coming off the coals with a proper char on it. Beetroot-cured salmon, the romesco, the spice on the lamb – it all ties back to that red thread running through the day. When the food’s matched with the art and the music, you stop eating a meal and start living in it a bit.

For diners attending Better Off Red, what’s the moment you’re most excited for them to experience?

The rib-eye off the bone, no question — that moment it lands on the table straight off the fire, smoky and still crackling. There’s something about wood-fired meat that gets a whole table leaning in at once, and that’s the bit I love watching.

You’re in good company at Night Feast this year. What other festival-exclusive dishes are you keen to try?

Honestly I just love seeing what everyone does when you give them a bit of freedom, so I’ll be wandering around eating far more than I should. I’m always keen to see who’s cooking over fire and what local produce they’ve got their hands on – that’s where the best surprises usually come from.

You’ve spent more than a decade helping shape Ghanem Group’s culinary direction. What has been the most rewarding part of watching Brisbane’s dining scene evolve during that time?

The biggest thing is how much people here have started backing local – the growers, the producers, the stuff coming out of our own backyard. Brisbane’s stopped looking over its shoulder at Sydney and Melbourne and started doing its own thing, and being part of that shift has been the best seat in the house.

Night Feast is running from Wednesday July 29 to Sunday August 23 – get more info on the food offering and art experiences here. Better Off Red is taking place on Sunday August 16 from 12:00 pm with tickets starting at $269, which covers all food, a three-hour beverage package and live performances. Click here to get your tickets.