Grab your spot amongst the world’s culinary stars at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, which takes over the city’s iconic eating precincts for a fortnight in March. Attend the ‘World’s Longest Lunch’ hosted in Chinatown and take classes with trailblazing chefs, winemakers and cocktail shakers. Feast on freshly-made noodles and dumplings at the Hawkers’ Markets hosted in Queen Victoria Market. Savour Victoria’s autumn harvest at a sumptuous gala dinner in Prahran Market. Discover Melbourne, in all its autumn glory, against this backdrop of foodie fun. Or venture further to some of the 50 events happening across regional Victoria.
Food is a joy that is meant to be shared. Which is why the festival opens with the World’s Longest Lunch - a three-course meal for a thousand diners. In 2010 it will stretch half a kilometre along Little Bourke Street in Melbourne’s Chinatown. You could book a place at the table or just enjoy the bustle of activity around the event. Melbourne has a reputation for its superb eateries in the city centre and its suburban precincts so it won’t come as a surprise that a seat at this table will be a prized place.
You’ll have lots more to talk about at the MasterClass weekend, a showcase of celebrity chefs and winemakers from around the world. Get into the kitchen with Australia’s most acclaimed chefs and watch them weave their culinary skills onto the plate. Taste wine from one of the world’s greatest cellar collections work or learn how to match food and wine from the fertile Mediterranean basin. Alternatively, learn about food philosophy in a ‘theatre of ideas’ session with creative and controversial chefs.
Long known as one of Australia’s gastonomic hot spots, Melbourne becomes something of a global headquarters during the food and wine festival. Embrace the exotic flavours of Asia at the hawkers’ market, held over three lantern-lit nights in the Queen Victoria Market. Pile your plate high with tasty, wok-fresh specialties from Melbourne’s top Asian chefs and restaurants. Enjoy your spicy smorgasbord with a lychee juice, chilled green tea, Victorian wine or boutique beer.
Fine dining buffs may prefer to book a ticket to the gala dinner, three sumptuous courses crafted by international cooking celebrities. You can get up close to Victoria’s crisp autumn produce on this moveable feast through Prahran Market. Circle the square with canapés and dine in the huge market hall, at tables sprinkled with herbs and flowers. Afterwards wait for wine, chocolate, cocktails, coffee and cheese to drop from the trees. It’s a culinary Garden of Eden where no food is off-limits.
If you’re passionate about wine, you’ll find many must-see events on the festival program. Listen to the world’s wine experts discuss new trends and age-old traditions at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. See Southgate Promenade transformed into a cellar door, where you can sample and buy wine from more than 60 of Victoria's boutique wineries. Featuring food stalls and mini-farmers’ market, the event brings the best of Victoria's wine country to the Yarra River.
Away from Melbourne, book your seat at one of the 20 regional World’s Longest Lunches. Then pick from more from 50 food-inspired events taking place across Victoria’s coastal towns, craggy mountain-scapes, vineyards and kitchen gardens. Rest assured you’ll be at the forefront of the global food and wine scene whatever your location.