We spend a lot of time thinking about what West Australians eat. Turns out, after diving a little deeper behind the scenes, the stadium has been paying attention too.
There is a version of stadium food that exists in the cultural memory as a kind of consolation prize: the grey pie, the limp chips, the hot dog of uncertain provenance eaten standing up against a concrete pillar. That version certainly still exists in venues around the world, and probably always will.
Optus Stadium has always had some extra game on this front, excuse the pun.
Several of us are regulars at Dockers and Eagles games, and what started as polite surprise (“oh, this is actually good”) has become something closer to genuine enthusiasm. So we did what food reviewers do: we ate our way through it, took notes, argued about the order, and landed on ten things worth seeking out next time you’re in the stands.
A few things worth knowing before you eat. Don’t apply any macro counting here, you’re here for a good time. Also – plan, if you’re meeting a mate for a beer, meet at the exact stand serving the dish you’re pre planned you want to try. The stadium works with WA suppliers in a way that goes beyond the marketing language usually attached to that phrase. Bread comes from Le Moulin Bakery, baked the morning of the game. Chicken is sourced from Mahogany Creek. The kitchen team, supported by culinary ambassadors Shane Delia and Matt Moran, develops the menu with the same seriousness you would expect from a restaurant, just at a scale that involves feeding 60,000 people in a compressed window of time. That is not a small thing to pull off.
We are quietly hanging out for some local collaborations with a few of our better quick service WA operators. Watch this space.
Here, in no particular order, are the ten things we keep coming back to. Eleven if you count the chips.
Butter Chicken Loaded Chips | Aisle 114, 133, 511, 531
The dish that probably started the conversation. Mahogany Creek chicken, a sauce refined over six years on the menu, proper chips underneath taking on the weight of everything above them. Soggy chips wouldn’t work here, so there is a small degree of science applied. It is comfort food in the truest sense. Get in early; the queue tells you everything.
Karaage Chicken Po Boy | Aisle 114, 133, 511, 531
A Le Moulin roll, fried chicken with genuine crunch, fresh local vegetables with enough acid to cut through. The po boy format works well at stadium scale: one hand required, dignity largely intact. A top seller since it landed in 2024, and deservedly so.
Two Curry Meal: Lamb Saagwala and Butter Chicken | Aisle 105
Our editor-in-chief’s favourite. Served on a thali plate, which is a detail that matters. A choice of two from butter chicken, lamb saagwala, or chickpea curry. The lamb is the one to chase: local meat, slow-cooked, exactly what you want in the middle of a Perth winter game when the wind is coming off the Swan. The thali format keeps everything in order and looks, genuinely, like something you’d get at a decent Indian restaurant.
Biggie Smalls Cheeseburger Kebab | Aisle 144, 540
Chef Shane Delia’s contribution to the stadium menu, and a confident one. A cheeseburger inside a kebab is the kind of concept that could go badly wrong and instead goes completely right. Middle Eastern spicing, fresh ingredients, a pide wrap holding it all together with more structural integrity than you have any right to expect. The name is good. The eating is better.
Proper Aussie Burger | Aisle 128, 520
Chef Matt Moran’s burger does not reinvent anything, which is the point. Good beef, good bread from Le Moulin, the right condiments in the right ratios. A classic Aussie burger designed by someone who knows what one is supposed to taste like. Substantial, and probably all you need for the two-plus hours you’re there.
Chips | Various outlets
Not hand-cut potatoes pulled from the ground in Manjimup, but for a stadium chip, these are pretty damn good, and that is not a small concession to make. Well sourced, properly cooked, and best eaten the way our team does it: two sachets of vinegar squeezed over the top. The good old Masterfoods vinegar is thick, packs a punch, and is exactly the right call for a first quarter warm-up.
Fish Taco | Aisle 108, 529, 549
On the menu since 2019 and still one of the most popular items in the building. Local WA supplier New West Foods supply the fish, fresh and well handled. The taco format requires both hands and a degree of commitment, but it is worth it.
Spicy Chicken Burrito | Aisle 140
The newest entry on the list, arriving in 2026 via Project Mex. Mahogany Creek chicken, local vegetables, heat that registers without being theatrical about it. Still finding its feet in the popularity stakes, but already gaining a following.
Cheese Kransky Dog | Aisle 104, 119, 502, 539
This might be a favourite. Remember road trips down south, stopping at a servo for a cheese-popping sausage? This echoes that feeling of nostalgia: a Le Moulin roll, a cheese kransky with the right amount of snap. A good kransky is a good kransky.
Peanut Satay Chicken Skewer Bowl | Aisle 139
Mahogany Creek chicken on skewers, an excellent satay sauce, fresh vegetables underneath. Popular as a lighter choice, though there is nothing lightweight about the flavour.
Popcorn Cauliflower | Aisle 101, 515, 545
The vegan option that non-vegans keep ordering. Available from the pizza outlets, which is not where you would expect to find the best plant-based dish in the building, but here we are. Crisp, well-seasoned, genuinely snackable.
So yes – Stadium food used to be an afterthought, something you endured rather than planned around. What Optus Stadium has developed is ever evolving and that’s impressive to us. The sourcing is considered, feedback has been considered, and the results, on a cold night with the Eagles or Dockers three goals up and a thali plate on your lap, are hard to argue with. Go hungry.