What to eat and drink at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Street parties, the world’s leading chefs and very, very long lunches right across the state. Here is the ultimate guide to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival so you don’t miss a bite.
Melb Food & Wine Festival
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It begins with a lunch for 1600 people and finishes with a street party to honour a legend and in-between more than 200 events will put the spotlight on the very best produce and producers throughout the state.
Yes the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is back, bigger and better than ever.
An extended program of events held over 17 days and three weekends is a new direction for the festival.
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Kicking the whole festival off is, of course, the sellout Bank of Melbourne World’s Longest Lunch, where Karen Martini (Better Homes and Gardens) Nicky Riemer (Bellota) and Lauren Eldridge (Stokehouse) will cook for 1600 in Prahran’s picturesque Victoria Gardens.
On the final day, the city will throw a street party to honour Sisto Malaspina, the Pellegrini’s legend killed last year just down the road from his landmark espresso and pasta bar. The laneway by the restaurant will be an afternoon celebration of pizza, pasta and Pellegrini’s.
And in between there will be demonstrations from some of the world’s leading chefs, never-to-be repeated culinary collaborations, glamping in the Gippsland hills and very, very long lunches held right across the state.
But where to start? Here is the ultimate guide to this year’s festival so you don’t miss a bite.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Melbourne is my hometown so this particular food festival is a bit sentimental for me. It really does feel a bit like coming home full circle,” says Curtis Stone. The LA-based celebrity chef is heading home to cook a unique Aussie barbecue and host a super masterclass at the festival’s House of Food and Wine on the Labour Day public holiday.
The chef-owner of the acclaimed Maude and Gwen restaurants said he was looking forward to sparking up the barbecue in collaboration with cult butcher Meatsmith for the festival.
“I’m actually getting my hands on some ingredients to get inspired. Aussie meat is just delicious and I’m looking forward to cooking up a storm.”
The House of Food and Wine will turn Southbank’s Malthouse Theatre into a gastronomic hub for a full three-day program of masterclasses and talks from international stars and local talent, as well as top-notch drinking and dining.
Highlights include masterclass demonstrations by Nicolai Nørregaard (Kadeau, Denmark), Jake Kellie (Burnt Ends, Singapore) and Rosio Sanchez (Hija de Sanchez and Sanchez, Denmark). At Theatre of Ideas, horticultural enthusiast Peter Gilmore (Quay, Sydney) will share his thoughts on The Secret Life of Plants while The New York Times food editor Sam Sifton will discuss the Power of Obsession with Kate Reid (Lune Croissanterie).
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival House of Food and Wine, March 9-11. Day passes from $65.
COAST WITH THE MOST
Get ready for a heap of fun in the sun with sandy sips and beachy bites the catch of the day. Set sail with the Stokehouse team on March 11 for a sunset cruise aboard a stunning super yacht the MV Pearl, with chef Ollie Hansford on the canapes and an Esky full of drinks. Williamstown’s Pier Farm will cook up a feast of local seafood on March 13, while the weekend of March 15-17 will see winemakers from along the Great Ocean Road converge at Provenance Wines on the banks of the Barwon to pour their winning wares.
Hit the beach on March 16 when some of our best barbecue brains — including Mike Patrick from Fancy Hanks and Igni’s Aaron Turner — will join Elliot Moss from North Carolina at Matt Germanchis’ Captain Moonlite in Anglesea for a BBQ beach party not to be missed. And for a sandy Sunday Session, At The Heads will serve up beats, eats and seafood treats on March 17.
GLOBAL GRUB
It’s Argentina’s gift to sweet teeth the world over and Southbank’s Asado is the place to be for fans of the sticky caramel known as dulche de leche when they throw a South American high tea featuring a selection of cakes, desserts and cocktails all starring delicious dulche on March 10. Fitzroy’s Rochester Hotel will shine a spotlight on the next generation of chefs who are shaking up Indian cuisine, with a day-long celebration featuring feasting, dancing and DJs on March 24. And chef Daniel Siriman from Monsoon Harvest will lead an immersive Sri Lankan shopping tour through the western suburbs, showing where to source the ingredients needed to cook a traditional feast on March 9.
MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE
Restaurant Express is a much-loved annual feature of the festival and is back again this year. Every day of the festival, more than 70 restaurants around the state are offering two courses and a matched wine for $40. Always wanted to eat Philippe Mouchel’s famed French, or at Shane Delia’s acclaimed subterranean restaurant Maha? Here’s your chance to eat luxe for less. Bookings essential.
Other CBD must-do events include a Gingerboy retrospective where Teage Ezard will reprise dishes spanning the 12 years of his much-loved hawker restaurant (March 12), a city-to-St Kilda movable feast that starts with CBD’s Garden State Hotel and ends at the reborn Espy on March 21, and on March 10, Osteria Illaria will throw a Palermo party showcasing the best of Sicily. At Kisume, watch a sushi master break down a whole blue fin tuna then taste the prized cuts akami, toro and o-toro across a lunch that will also include tuna in sashimi, nigiri and maki form on March 9 and 23.
IN THE DRINK
Stomp up a storm from March 20-30 down at Docklands’ Victoria Harbour and help the team from urban winery Noisy Ritual with their annual harvest. Think ouzo is not for you-zo? Let The Press Club’s Reuben Davis change your mind over three-courses of food matched to the aniseed spirit on March 8, while Asami Sudo — named Japan’s Miss Sake — will showcase Japan’s national drink at East Brunswick’s Kumo Izakaya on March 9.
South Yarra’s Shadowboxer will host three of Victoria’s best boutique spirit makers for a long leisurely lunch matched to Maidenii vermouth, Marionette Liqueurs and Melbourne Gin Company drinks over the weekend of March 23 and 24.
THIS GOES WITH THAT
The festival is famous for bringing people together over innovative food and this year is no exception. The boys from Dandenong’s Uncle Smallgoods will join the St Ali caffeine crew for a night of coffee, smoke and amazing dishes that will include sausages made by diners on the night. Italian yum cha is on the menu at Richmond’s The Grand — think steamer baskets of tortellini, mountains of meatballs and more — on weekends throughout the festival, while Johnny di Francesco (400 Gradi) and Jessi Singh (Horn Please) are combining their worlds to create Italian-Indian pizzas on March 11. Did someone say chocolate? Melbourne’s artisan chocolatier Koko Black will showcase local spirit makers who have collaborated to create their new boozy chocolate range including Four Pillars and Starward on March 21.
OUT OF TOWN
The second weekend of this year’s festival — March 15-17 — will put the food focus firmly on regional Victoria with a heap of terrifically tasty events throughout the state, starting with almost 20 regional world’s longest lunches held from Gisborne to Geelong, Echuca to Port Fairy, all showcasing the amazing producers and winemakers of their regions.
Insects are on the menu at Junction Moama for a night that’s sure to be “bugging delicious” on March 16, while Fowles Wine will host a more traditional farmgate feast in the heart of Killeen Stables’ vineyard and working sheep station on the same day.
The southern hemisphere’s longest underground cellar at Seppelt Wines will be the site of an unforgettable long lunch of Grampians produce and Seppelt’s Great Western wines on March 16. And for a fab day out, head to Spring Hill Estate in the Macedon Ranges on March 17 for a Sunday afternoon of whiskey and gin tasting, fishing, sausage-making and fresh estate trout cooked on the barbie.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
The tiny Gippsland town of Jindivick will become a food lover’s haven when a contingent of the state’s best chefs join local country culinary talent in a total town takeover. The Village Feast will transform the town for one day only, March 16, with Shannon Martinez from vegan restaurant Smith & Daughters manning the green grocers, Alejandro Saravia (Pastuso) taking over the butcher store, Victor Liong (Lee Ho Fook) running the Chinese restaurant and country boy Matt Moran manning the pans in the local cafe. It promises all the fun of a country fair with fare with flair.
NATIVE NOSH
Don’t know your muntrie from your magpie goose, your Davidson plum from your desert lime? Let Charcoal Lane chef Greg Hampton demystify the food from our land in a hands on cooking class that will be followed, naturally, by lunch on March 8-9 and 22-23. South American steakhouse San Telmo gets a full blown Aussie makeover and will pay homage to the Great Southern Land with a one-off menu on March 18.
On March 21 Scott Pickett will team up with the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor Tim Entwisle, along with Sebastian Raeburn from Anther gin for a guided, multisensory journey of the Royal Botanic Gardens and the botanicals that make up the Pickett & Co gin, before heading to Matilda for cocktails and a gin-infused canape menu.
COOL AND QUIRKY
He’s regarded around the globe as one of our finest, his restaurant lauded as one of the best. But for one night Ben Shewry will hand over the keys to his Attica kitchen to his staff for eight-courses of freewheeling shackle-free fine dining on March 18. Shane Delia will pay respect to Melbourne’s culinary pioneers when he takes a tour of their final resting places at Melbourne General Cemetery before cooking up a homage-filled feast on March 8.
It’s upscale meals on wheels — aka a food truck degustation — at Welcome to Thornbury on March 10 and 14, while it’s all aboard the grain train on March 13 with a tour of three Richmond producers that put it to delicious use: Philippa’s Bakery, Mountain Goat brewery and Brogan’s Way distillery.
AMAZING GRAZE
All roads lead to the Yarra for the festival’s final weekend. The River Graze returns to transform the banks of the Yarra from Fed Square to Crown Riverwalk into a wine-dine playground from Friday through Sunday (March 22-24). Wines from more than 20 Victorian winemakers will be on the pour at City Cellar while Southgate’s restaurants will serve up their signature dishes as “boardwalk bites”.
Kids can get their hands dirty at the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden, beer lovers can head to the Stomping Ground garden to sip their one-off festival brew, world barbecue fare and whisky is on the menu at Starward and the Crown Riverwalk will become a Thai-themed full moon party of SE Asian bites and tropical drinks. Entry is free.
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