Melbourne Food and Wine Festival feels a little like the race that stopped a nation. But rather a longer, food festival that keeps a city and its tourists busy and full for two weeks. Whether it’s a small cheap event, or an international star visit, we all want to take part one way or another. This year’s theme is water, and we’re looking forward to seeing it take form. So here are our picks, for any budget and interest.
On a budget
The Immersery: Festival Kitchen, Bar & Raingarden
With free entry and no bookings, this one is for everyone. The festival hub features a multi-level rain-garden, floating bar, open air kitchen and a menu that is inspired by this year’s theme, water. Chefs from Silo, Bomba, Huxtable, Borrowed Space and Tani Eat & Drink will be involved.
The Immersery: Festival Kitchen, Bar & Raingarden
Queensbridge Square
28 Feb – 16 March
Free, no bookings required
Dandenong World Fare
Bringing together all the flavours that make up Melbourne, the World Fare will celebrate global music, dance and more importantly food.
Dandenong World Fare
Dandenong Market
2 Mar, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Free
Cooking Sustainable Seafood
Sustainable cooking feel a little daunting? Let the team at William Angliss teach you how to pick, prepare and cook sustainable seafood. Dinner parties will now be at your place.
Cooking Sustainable Seafood
William Angliss Institute
13 March
$30
Hands-on
Yabby Expedition
Not one for the squeamish, this one embraces the good old days of yabby catching and will see a completion to see who can catch the most yabbies. We did say hands on.
Yabby Expedition
Goldfields
15 March
$25
Crush, Stomp, Drink
Get your boots on and get involved in a wine making class with Epocha. The best kind of school. You’ll also be invited back for dinner in a few months’ time to sip on the very wine that you helped make.
Crush, Stomp, Drink
Epocha
1 March
$195
Pick and Eat: Yarra Yarra
Home-grown is all the rage. And Heide’s head gardener Dugald Noyes will take you through the highlights of the Yarra River before you pick your own produce fresh from the café’s kitchen garden. Chef Rick Person will then cook you two-course lunch. Delicious.
Pick and Eat: Yarra Yarra
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen
6 March
$75
Dine like a Melbournian
Taste Now
One thing we really love is food and art together. And that is exactly what this is.Experience art and food in a unique way, at the Melbourne Now exhibition, as the exhibition is matched to dishes curated by some of the city’s best chefs.
Taste Now
NGV, St Kilda Road
28 Feb – 2 March
$75
Melbourne Beer Fest
It would be rude not to have a drink event here. It is Melbourne after all. The Beer Fest will feature some of the finest local brews and food along with competitions and entertainment, as you explore the history and culture of boutique breweries.
Melbourne Beer Fest
Flagstaff Gardens
1 & 2 March, 12:00pm – 10:00pm
from $20
Blood Is Thicker Than Water
The McConnell brothers’ will be running a blood-inspired street party on Gertrude St. Think a dish here, a dish there, all featuring blood. Good food and good times are bound to follow. We hope everyone makes it out alive.
Blood Is Thicker Than Water
Casa Ciuccio and Cutler & Co
13 March
$95
Food Safari Picnic
Pick your food from a range of Bridge Road traders to create a picnic, including Touchwood, Richmond Hill Café and Larder, Mazzitelli, Laikon Deli and The Collection Bar, and then catch a ferry to Herring Island, a hidden picnic spot in the middle of the Yarra River to enjoy your loot. Picnics from Melbourne, dining in the Yarra Valley. The best of both worlds.
Food Safari Picnic
O’Connell Reserve & Herring Island
$45-$85
One-off
PA Jorgensen (Fool Magazine)
Ever wanted your food photos to look like the magazine? Well. Per-Anders Jorgensen, the founder, co-editor and photographer at Fool Magazine will be hosting a rare and intimate hands-on photography workshop. Cameras at the ready.
PA Jorgensen
The Essential Ingredient
11 March
$325
Fisherman’s Sustainable Feast
Join Delwyn Tuanui from Chatham Island Food Co. and Gingerboy head chef Leigh Power as they present a seafood lover’s banquet to diners featuring the best sustainable produce around.
Fisherman’s Sustainable Feast
Gingerboy
11 March
$140
Waste Deep Water
Waste is a hot topic and this year Bright Young Things will present an evening where the menu, the décor and everything in-between will follow the zero-waste philosophy of refusing single use disposable items, reusing and reducing and making the best use of all parts of the fresh, local, chemical-free and seasonal produce. Waste will be shown to guests. So the pressure is on.
Waste Deep Water
The White House (Dumbo Feather)
2 March
$160
Global
Langham Melbourne Masterclass
A favourite each year, Langham will host 15 of the hottest chefs from around the world for one weekend of incredible tasting inspired by their connection with water, the current festival theme. Always a great event. Always inspiring and educational. And tasty.
Langham Melbourne Masterclass
The Langham, Melbourne
Sat 8 Mar – Sun 9 Mar
Prices from $320.00 full day ticket, $595.00 weekend ticket
Filipino Barbeque
Filipino Barbeque is on the rise and this event will show you just what it is and what it tastes like. Here’s to having a different sort of dinner party.
Filipino Barbeque
William Angliss institute
7 – 9th March
$60
A Danish Food Trail
Think you could explain to someone the ins and outs of Nordic cuisine? You will after this event. Chef Grysbaek and the Melbourne Danish Club will take you on a journey where each course represents a different Danish town.
A Danish Food Trail
Restaurant Dansk
1st & 8th of March
$180
