Melbourne Food and Wine Festival today added a further 250 events to its 2024 program, taking the tally for its March festival to more than 400 events over 10 days.

The 250 additional events are, for the most part, designed by the city’s food and drink community, who dream up boundary-pushing ideas such as a dinner with menu and wine pairings designed by AI. Others are unlikely collaborations, such as hit pasta bar Tipo 00 teaming up with hit cocktail bar Caretakers Cottage for a party in a private members’ club.

To help navigate such a wide-ranging program, the Good Food team here share their top picks of what’s on from March 15 to 24 across a range of ticket prices.

Tickets for the 2024 festival go on sale to the general public on Thursday, February 1. As part of its partnership with Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, subscribers to Nine’s mastheads can access pre-sale tickets from Monday, January 29. melbournefoodandwine.com.au

Good Food’s picks of the program, from splurge to budget

Andrea McGinniss, digital editor

Vern’s and Capitano, from $150

Carlton and Charleston come together at last, with Dan and Bethany Heinze from South Carolina restaurant Vern’s (named one of the 50 best restaurants in the US by The New York Times) bringing their low-country charm to our very own Italo-American favourite, Capitano. Here’s hoping they bring their caramelised apple tart with toasted lime meringue, too.

March 18 and 19, Capitano, 421 Rathdowne Street, Carlton

La Volta – Caretaker’s Cottage and Tipo 00, $33

Talk about a cool way to close the festival: cocktails, pasta and Italo disco at the Kelvin Club, from the crew behind my two favourite cosy city haunts, Caretaker’s Cottage and Tipo 00. For just $33 you get a cocktail and a snack on arrival plus a coveted spot at what I imagine will be the carb-fuelled, dimly lit little disco of my dreams.

March 24, Kelvin Club, 14-30 Melbourne Place, Melbourne

Annabel Smith, deputy digital editor

Lauren Eldridge x Di Stasio Carlton, $153

Sydney pastry chef Lauren Eldridge (Berowra Waters Inn) has a knack for highlighting Australian ingredients in restrained creations, and her elegant, sculptural desserts served in the gallery-like surrounds of Di Stasio Carlton sounds like a simpatico combo. I’m looking forward to living la dolce vita in Melbourne’s Italian heartland.

March 20, Di Stasio Carlton, 224 Faraday Street, Carlton

Sunday Shawarma Party, $30

Sydney restaurant critic Terry Durack described Aalia chef Paul Farag’s lamb shawarma as “not so much a dish, then, as an event”. The MFWF crew must’ve been reading because Paul is flying south to host a shawarma shindig in the shiny disco-era Beirut setting of Aalia’s charcoal chicken spin-off sibling, Henrietta. Instead of lamb neck, it’s a choice of chicken, mushroom or smoked beef tongue. I’m hoping the tarator and pickles of the original (pictured) make the journey, too.

March 17, Henrietta, 75 Chapel Street, Windsor

Emma Breheny, Melbourne reporter

Sarah Cicolini’s Santo Palato pop-up, from $135

Reading Sarah Cicolini’s comforting yet clever pasta recipes in an Australian food magazine years ago, I knew I wanted to visit her restaurant in Rome one day. That still hasn’t happened, so I’m pumped to be able to try her amatriciana in Melbourne’s Italian heartland, as well as the more inventive dishes she keeps in her arsenal.

March 15-24, Seven Seeds, 114 Berkeley Street, Carlton

Dan’s Diner, March 15-24, $50-ish*

What if you put a diner in the middle of Fed Square, asked three talented chefs called Dan to cook eggs and waffles, and served some great local drinks by another Dan? I want to know the answer to that question, so I’ll be there to try what Dan Hunter (Brae), Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny), Daniel Wilson (Yakimono) and Dan Docherty (Commis) are putting up.

* Menu is a la carte

March 15-24, Fed Square, Melbourne

Roslyn Grundy, deputy editor

A Thai-Chinese Feast with Sungeun Mo and Palisa Anderson, from $189

Holy basil, Batman! I’m excited to see what happens when one of Sydney’s leading Thai food exponents, Palisa Anderson, teams up with Sungeun Mo, who heads the kitchen at Melbourne restaurant BKK, to explore an arcane subgenre of Thai-Chinese cuisine: congee shop cooking. I’m calling it dinner and an education.

March 17-18, BKK, Level 3, 270 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Sake and Beer Fusion Masterclass Tasting, $46

I’m a long-time fan of Preston brewery Tallboy & Moose, so I’m intrigued to sample the results of their collab with Melbourne Sake, a sake-beer hybrid. The evening includes snacks, plus tastings of two different sakes and a Japanese-style beer. Kanpai!

March 16, Tallboy & Moose, 270 Raglan Street, Preston

Sarah Norris, head of Good Food

Take a Trip to Malta, $195

The little Mediterranean island of Malta rarely gets its time to shine, but this shared feast with matching wine should reveal its amazing food. It’s hosted at Nomad by its Maltese chef Jacqui Challinor and author Julia Busuttil Nishimura.

March 20, Nomad, 187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

A Hector’s x France-Soir sandwich party, $44

A collab for the ages. Head to Hector’s Deli and get a France-Soir-inspired sando, fries and a glass of beaujolais poured by France-Soir’s wine buyer Philip Rich. Fun!

March 21 and 22, Hector’s Deli, 111 Moor Street, Fitzroy