That great Australian culinary export, avocado on toast, has earned a starring role at the Opera House, taking centre stage alongside the potato scallop at Winnie’s, a new eatery that opens this Thursday next to Opera Bar.

“The inspiration is 100 per cent to showcase to the world Australia’s best export, the cafe,” said Ben Carroll, co-founder at Applejack, the hospitality group that won the tender to run Opera Bar last year, ending celebrity chef Matt Moran and pub group Solotel’s joint 24-year reign at the venue.

The tenancy where Winnie’s is opening, next to Opera Bar, was part of the tender. Previously home to Opera Kitchen and House Canteen, Winnie’s “avo on toast” breakfast item nods to Bill Granger’s 1993 food moment, when he put avocado on toast on the menu at Bills in Darlinghurst and unwittingly launched a global cafe craze.

The humble potato scallop will be a more pimped-up ride at Winnie’s, teamed with potted blue swimmer crab. “It’s a nostalgic dish,” Carroll said, tipping the combination as an early signature dish encapsulating the harbourside setting and food brief.

And no, the name isn’t a cheeky nod to Aussie slang and Winnie Reds? “It’s named after Winifred Atwell,” Carroll explained. The talented, Trinidad-born ragtime musician played Waltzing Matilda for construction workers at the Opera House building site in 1964.

Thirty tables will be able to be reserved by customers attending a performance at the Opera House, and Winnie’s, which seats 330 people, will address the international make-up of customers with chicken and sweetcorn congee with black fungi on the breakfast menu, a half chook with garlic miso yoghurt, or grilled barra with chermoula.

“We have staff in different coloured tops who speak different languages. There are a lot of Koreans and Germans down here. They don’t want to set up the app to order, so staff take the order for them,” Carroll said.

What the team won’t have to explain to overseas visitors is why they can’t take a drink from Opera Bar next door to Winnie’s, and vice versa. “We’ve amalgamated the liquor licences, it’s now one of the biggest bar licences in Australia, with a capacity for 2400 people,” Carroll said. Applejack will also unveil a new outdoor bar this week at Opera Bar. If the granite structure looks familiar, that’s because they’ve gone back to the same quarry used in the construction of the Opera House.

Applejack will also renovate its Opera Bar interior, unveiling the new look in October. “It hasn’t had a full renovation in 20 years,” Carroll said.

Considerable planning has been put into delivering drinks faster, so the blue swimmer crab omelette at Winnie’s arrives promptly. Carroll said the team was also trying to activate the area for locals: “We’re looking at a run club.” Winnie’s has quick-grab pastries, but one Aussie cafe invention is an acquired taste a bridge too far for the international audience. The Cheesymite roll didn’t make the cut.

Open lunch daily 7.30am-late

Lower concourse, Sydney Opera House, winniessydney.com.au