Tali Wiru, Uluru: Iconic desert dining experience celebrates 10th anniversary

When Ayers Rock Resort's exclusive Indigenous dining experience Tali Wiru re-opens on April 1 it will celebrate its 10-year anniversary.

Across the journey, the spectacular restaurant-under-the-stars with arguably Australia's best view – Uluru and Kata Tjuta at sunset – has hosted 21,283 guests during its April – October seasons, only interrupted for periods by COVID-19.

They've come daily, 20 at a time to a dramatic dune-top setting, where proceedings begin with champagne and canapes accompanied by a didgeridoo player while they watch the sun go down over Uluru.

As night falls, a four-course menu is served and after dinner, a storyteller shares Indigenous culture around the fire pit while guests enjoy a hot chocolate or cognac.

When it does return, Tali Wiru will continue these traditions, and that of a menu celebrating Australian native ingredients, including green ants wild-harvested in the Northern Territory's Top End, quandongs from Alice Springs and desert lime and saltbush from South Australia.

In 2022, the dishes include Paroo kangaroo tartare, blue swimmer crab with wasabi, gin-compressed cucumber with green ant and celery salt, Port Lincoln kingfish sashimi and black rice truffle risotto.

As delicious and delightful as the experience is for visitors, it is also an important pillar in proprietor Voyages' mission to provide employment opportunities to Indigenous Australians. It is fully staffed by Indigenous team members, many of whom come through the company's National Indigenous Training Academy (NITA), from which the 600th Indigenous staff member graduated in February. One third of all of Voyages' staff is Indigenous.

Tali Wiru, means "beautiful dune" in local Pitjantjatjara.

From $380 a person. See ayersrockresort.com.au