Shoppers will be able to put down their calico bags and pick up a fork when Queen Victoria Market’s revitalised Queen’s Food Hall opens at the end of November.

“We’re creating a social and dining destination for people to eat, meet and soak up the market atmosphere,” says the market’s general manager of operations, Mark Bullen.

The new destination, on the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets, takes over where the 1990s-era food court left off. It includes more seating and will buzz into the evening, including on days when the market is closed.

The eight vendors are a mix of returning favourites and new arrivals, including Bellboy Coffee Bar, which roasts beans at its flagship cafe in Brunswick. The Happy Mexican in Abbotsford will open a market outpost, sourcing ingredients for its quesadillas and burritos from stallholders on site.

George Milonas has been selling fish at the market for nearly 20 years. He’ll be using produce from his George the Fishmonger stall at the new Food Hall eatery Saltwater. “We have the biggest seafood market in Victoria,” he says. “Now we’ll have a food outlet that allows you to have access to it, cooked and served to you right here.”

“We’ve been asked for it in the past – people buy oysters and want to eat them on the spot.”

George Milonas, fishmonger

Flame-grilled lobster rolls and hand-rolled sushi will feature. “We’ll have an oyster bar with stools around it and you’ll be able to watch your oysters get shucked and have a glass of champagne to go with them,” says Milonas. “We’ve been asked for it in the past – people buy oysters and want to eat them on the spot.”

The new offering reflects the way Melburnians use the market these days. “We used to get more people buying for the week for a big family,” says the fishmonger. “That bulk shopping has disappeared. Now they want four portions rather than four kilos, and they’re buying to cook a recipe rather than looking for value.”

Tourists are a big proportion of market crawlers now. “They’ll not be buying seafood but they’ll be looking at tonnes of it on display and think, gee, I’d like to eat this. Well, now we’ll be able to tell them to head right over for seafood platters or poke bowls or flambeed scallops. We’ll be able to have some fun.”

“It’s an extension of the market experience,” says Lord Mayor Sally Capp, who has made the renewal of Queen Victoria Market a linchpin of her period in office. “The precinct is our fastest-growing neighbourhood, with more people living and working there. I feel sure the Food Hall will be hugely popular. It’s about community as well as adding to hospitality in the area.”

Markets need to keep moving, says manager Mark Bullen. “We need to ensure we diversify to keep our existing customers and attract new ones.”

There’s stiff competition from nearby South Melbourne Market, which has punters queuing for oysters and lobster to eat at bustling stand-up benches, and from Prahran Market, which recently unveiled G. McBean Family Butcher, with ready-to-eat porchetta rolls.

Manuel Jimenez-Navarro owns Spanish outlet El Rincon, which was at the old Food Court for six years. “We were really left behind,” he says. “But we are proud to be part of the next decades. I spent six weeks travelling around Spain to prepare and I have fresh ideas.”

He can’t wait to fire up the pans. “I have the luxury of the largest pantry in the world with Queen Victoria Market on my doorstep. Our lives are enriched by having such a diverse and beautiful place to shop.”