2026 March 20 – March 29, 2026

Tens of thousands of pastries, more than 200 events, the biggest names in the game from Melbourne, Australia and the world on the pans and in our kitchens, and a monumental celebration of cake. That, eaters, diners and drinkers of Australia, is a wrap on Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2026. A round of applause to our Principal Partner La Trobe Financial and our Destination Partner Visit Victoria – and, of course, to you for showing up and breaking bread with us. 

We cut the ribbon on 10 days of outstanding eating and drinking at Hyde Melbourne Place, as cream of the crop gathered for one of the most notable nights on the culinary calendar: the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Opening Party, presented by OpenTable. 

Come sunrise, we were at it again, this time at the calendar’s biggest daytime dining experience at World’s Longest Lunch, the Greek edition. An assembly of Melbourne’s best got in on the action, with talent from hit restaurants Kafeneion and Tzaki, and author Ella Mittas proudly flying the white and blue flag on Kings Domain. The three-course lunch – which included Mittas’s marvelous meze plate, Tzaki’s braised chickpeas and slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and Kafeneion’s deliciously dense, orange-soaked portokalopita – unfurled appropriately into a whirling Zorba in the gardens, mesmerising diners young and old and opening the Festival in joyous revelry. Can I get an “opa!” anyone? 

And can you say you were had a spot on the table – and a cake – at Melbourne’s great cake communion? Direct from San Francisco, CAKE PICNIC, presented by QUEEN®, and 1,600 cakes and their handlers descended upon the luscious Kings Domain lawns en masse for a cake swap of epic proportions. We admired, we filmed, we sliced, we shared and we feasted. We also crowned one exceptional baker the day’s Cake Queen for her anchovy cake – which featured a total of zero actual anchovies but plenty of spiced chocolate, passionfruit curd and tahini cream cheese. 

And Cake Picnic wasn’t the only hot ticket around town that day: a little further north saw one of the festival’s hottest collabs take shape with MasterChef’s Nat Thaipun and Andy Cooks, all the way from the internet, come together for a full-throttle throwdown over the grill at Abbotsford Convent. It was the IRL equivalent of the fire emoji and it featured plenty of smoke, skewers, som tum and good times.  

The call of the Global Dining Series, presented by Polestar, was heard far and wide. Auckland’s three-hat smash hit Tala landed at Stokehouse for a handful of special services, with chef Henry Onesemo showing us what Samoan fine dining – and umu chicken – is really all about. Malta also made its way to Melbourne via Shane Delia’s Maha, with the island nation’s Michelin-starred restaurant Noni bringing with it plenty of Mediterranean rarities along with one unforgettable lamb loin cooked over embers. 

Sam Lawrence, the Australian chef behind New York City’s Bridges – the restaurant on everyone’s lips right now – made a brief and beautiful return to home soil and joined his former boss Andrew McConnell in the kitchen at Cutler in Fitzroy. And fellow expat James Henry followed suit, bringing a taste of France’s hottest regional fine diner Le Doyenné to Brae for a string of very, completely, absolutely sold-out dates. 

Some of the most exciting names in food from around the world served up plenty of express experiences, too: Abruzzo-born, Byron Bay-based Daniela Maiorano served hot and fresh pasta live and direct from the Sunhands window in Carlton; laab lord Andy Ricker joined the kitchen at Dessous for three nights’ worth of fast and fiery services all about the minced meat and sticky rice salad; and Lyle’s London founder James Lowe took to the dough at his second MFWF 2026 appearance, serving slices of his incredible pizza at Brunswick East’s Figlia. 

Our wider program, meanwhile, presented a full spectrum of deliciousness, with Melbourne feeling the full-flavoured force of Filipino cuisine thanks to a collab involving Melbourne CBD’s Serai, Filipino food pioneer JP Anglo and sizzling plates of sisig; a no-hands Boodle Brunch featuring lumpia superstar and Instagram sensation Abi Marquez; plus an exploration of Chinese and Filipino cuisine – and how great it is when they come together – care of Melbourne CBD’s Askal and Lee Ho Fook.  

And if you weren’t at the intersection of Chinese and Filipino cuisine, then you were surely at the crossroads of Mexican and Middle Eastern. It was Tacos and Toum round three with Tom Sarafian and Raph Rashid, this time hosted at Sarafian’s recently opened Zareh in Collingwood, and this time with a third amigo, Ricardo Garcia Flores of El Columpio, bringing the cross-cultural magic to one of the Festival’s most in demand events.  

The great Greek-ification continued across Melbourne and into its suburbs with author Meni Valle leading the charge over several events, cooking by eye rather than written recipes and armed with the generational wisdom passed down through the incredible Greek women in her family. And can we get a shout-out to all the long lunches in the house: in the leafy and lovely Eltham, and along the Yarra featuring unlimited barbecue. 

Free food. You asked. We delivered. The pasta punks from Carlton’s Super Norma returned to the Festival with Leggo’s for another instalment of Something Saucy, this time turning their hands to pizza. Those who prefer free fried chicken over free pizza, meanwhile, were looked after at the Festival of Korean Fried Chicken, presented by Brights & Park, in the beating heart of Melbourne’s Koreatown, where the only thing spicier than the gochujang challenge were the K-pop dancers. 

Baker’s Dozen, presented by McKenzie’s, saw out the Festival in true celebration and a helluva lot of pastries. Author, psychologist and longtime Ottolenghi collaborator Helen Goh made more than a few appearances across the baking bonanza, hosting a most delicious lunch with fellow baker Emelia Jackson before taking to the main stage for a live demonstration and a chat with everyone in attendance.  

There were 27 of Melbourne’s best bakeries on deck, too, each offering up their pastries, bakes, cakes and one-off creations to the masses. What did you eat? What did you miss? Akimbo’s beef rendang pie sold out in record time, while Supernormal and Morning Market’s collaborative peanut butter tart was a certified banger – and goodness gracious girth, did you get a look-in at A.P Bakery and OJI House’s great big honking, extremely fancy lamington? If there was ever an attempt to improve on the great Australian coconut-covered snack, then these two bakeries have achieved exactly what they set out to do.  

You did it, Australia. You came, you ate, you saw, and then you ate some more. We’ll see you in 2027. 

By Rick Stephens