More than three decades on and this is one festival still firmly positioned as the premier Australian event on the international food and wine calendar. Melbourne Food and Wine Festival returns in 2024 with an illustrious 10-day program of 300 events across Melbourne running from 15–24 March.
The annual festival is a celebration of eating and drinking in Australia’s food capital, and as always its upcoming rendition is set to deliver a bumper program of pop-ups, chef collaborations, long lunches and Fed Square bakery takeovers.
There is plenty of exciting homegrown and local talent on the jam-packed 2024 line-up, including Dan Hong, Neil Perry, Lauren Eldridge, Ellie Bouhadana, Joel Bennetts and Michael Greenlaw.
This year, the international talent set to descend on Melbourne for the festival’s Global Dining Series is exceptional, too. The series will see the likes of ex-Noma chef Garima Arora, Italy’s Sarah Cicolini, Michelin-starred chef Kanji Kobayashi, Hanoi’s Sam Tran, Chicago’s birria king Jonathan Zaragoza, and London’s Noble Rot founders all collaborating with some of Melbourne’s top venues and chefs for outstanding events. Plus, we’re hosting an exclusive, fire-fuelled feast with international star chef Pamela Yung at GT‘s Victoria Restaurant of the Year Etta on Tuesday 19 March (details below).
“Our Global Dining Series has been supercharged this year, with a breadth of talent from around Australia and the world coming to Melbourne for a series of one-off dinners, collaborations and residencies,” says Anthea Loucas Bosha, CEO of Food + Drink Victoria, the not-for-profit parent company behind MFWF.
“This festival is going to be huge. We’ve got more events in more places for more people, with more talent from all over,” adds Creative Director Pat Nourse.
Here are some of the highlights of 2024 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2024 highlights
Pamela Yung at Etta with Gourmet Traveller
Gourmet Traveller is delighted to bring together two powerhouse chefs for a special fire-fuelled evening at Etta – GT’s Victoria Restaurant of the Year – as part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s Global Dining Series. Rosheen Kaul will team up with Pamela Yung, formerly of Flor in London’s Borough Market and head of culinary innovation at Bali’s Potato Head Beach Group, to present a shared four-course tasting menu with optional wine pairings hand selected by Etta’s Ashley Boburka. The event will take place on Tuesday 19 March, with two sittings available at 6pm and 8.30pm.
Tickets cost $175 per person, and go on sale Thursday 1 February but GT readers can access an exclusive early-bird sale by signing up to our newsletter. (If you’re already signed up, just sit back and wait for it to hit your inbox on 31 January).
The World’s Longest Lunch (15 March) has been a mainstay of the MFWF calendar since 1994, and the 2024 edition will see guests seated at a 600-metre-long communal table at Kings Domain. The three-course menu will be lead by celebrated chef Andrew McConnell (Gimlet, Cumulus Inc., Cutler & Co, Supernormal), and come with paired wines and some light entertainment.
“Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is crucial to continuing and reinforcing Melbourne’s reputation as the cultural and gastronomic capital of Australia. It’s an honour to be headlining the World’s Longest Lunch in Kings Domain as part of the 2024 festival,” says McConnell.
Across the festival’s duration, Garima Arora — owner and chef of Bangkok’s Gaa and the first female chef to win a Michelin star — has a residency at Crown Melbourne (15-24 March). Plus Santo Palato’s Sarah Cicolini is transforming Seven Seeds into a little slice of Rome with “life-changing pasta” (15–24 March).
On 20 March, London’s Noble Rot founders Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew and chef Stephen Harris are joining forces with Marion, and Jonathan Zaragoza brings his roasted goat birria tacos to The Lincoln Hotel.
And across two nights (19–20 March), Gia chef Sam Tran is taking over Aru while over at Maha, Syrian-born chef and co-owner of Dubai’s Orfali Bros Mohamad Orfali will join Shane Delia in the kitchen.
This brunch event promises new-wave Indian dishes from the chefs behind Biji Dining, Enter Via Laundry and Toddy Shop. Harry Mangat, Mischa Tropp, Helly Raichura will serve inventive riffs on Indian chaat, Goan ros omelette and falooda, with coffee from Melbourne’s own Inglewood Coffee Roasters and Pizzini sparkling to match.
Fed Square will transform into a culinary mecca with celebrity-inspired sausage sizzles, pizza party sessions and pop-up diners during the festival. From 15–24 March, Dan’s Diner will see a three-act Dan extravaganza of Dan Hunter (Brae), Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny) and Daniel Wilson (Yakimono) lead a dining program like no other. On the drinks is another Dan, Daniel Docherty, from new Collingwood bar Commis, plus beer and wine from Dan Murphy’s to keep the theme going,
On the festival’s final weekend (23–24 March), three separate events are taking over the Melbourne icon: The Pizza Sessions, Celebrity Sausage and Baker’s Dozen. So, you’ll want to keep the weekend free.
The Pizza Sessions promise good times aplenty with a line-up of guest talents, including Joel Bennetts (Fish Shop, Burger Park), Ellie Bouhadana (Hope St Radio), Casey Wall (Bar Liberty, Capitano) and Lucy Whitlow (Figlia), showing off their skills using Gozney pizza ovens.
Celebrity Sausage, a celebrity-inspired sausage sizzle, returns — this time with snags from Clare Bowditch, Daen Lia, Sarah Todd and more.
Finally, Baker’s Dozen returns with an outstanding bake sale of cakes and sweet treats from the city’s finest bakers and cakers, including Black Star Pastry, Tarts Anon, Bread Club, Holy Sugar and Kudo.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, presented by La Trobe Financial, runs from 15–24 March, 2024. To see the program, visit melbournefoodandwine.com.au
Tickets for the 2024 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival go on sale Thursday 1 February to the general public, with a pre-sale from Monday 29 January for MFWF subscribers via the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival website.
Tickets to Gourmet Traveller’s event with Pamela Yung at Etta (19 March) go on sale Thursday 1 February but GT readers can access an exclusive early-bird sale by signing up to our newsletter.
