Welcome to Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2025

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival presented by La Trobe Financial and supported by destination partner Visit Victoria, has today announced a raft of new events across the 10-day program, including a partnership with Victoria Racing Club, a one-of-a-kind plant-based bake off with two global leaders, and additional events in the always popular, always exceptional Global Dining Series.

“We’re just a month away from the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, and we can’t wait!” said Anthea Loucas Bosha, CEO of Food + Drink Victoria, the not-for-profit parent company behind MFWF. “We’re so excited in fact, that we’ve added a bunch of fun, delicious events to the 2025 program. Baker’s Dozen was already bigger and better than last year, but we will now also have Lune baking croissants on-site in Fed Square all weekend long. We’ve got a fun partnership with the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), with Feast taking over the Flemington Lawn for three Saturdays in March, and we’ve added additional events to the Global Dining Series. There’s no place greater than Melbourne in March; see you then!”

The Festival kicks off with the return of sold-out favourites including the World’s Longest Lunch presented by La Trobe Financial, led this year, direct from Los Angeles, by Melbourne’s biggest culinary export Curtis Stone, and a reimagined World’s Longest Brunch with much-loved Melbourne author and food personality, Julia Busuttil Nishimura.

For three weekends in March, Melbourne Food & Wine Festival brings the flavour to the hallowed turf of Flemington Racecourse for Feast: a marquee meeting of sport and great eating and drinking.

It’s everything you love about a day at the races, supercharged with haute snacks and Victorian drinks from the cutting edge of Melbourne dining, plus Victorian produce stalls and kids’ entertainment galore.

The Flemington front lawn comes alive with the flavours of Melbourne for Howden Australian Guineas Day (Saturday 1 March), with two of the city’s favourite restaurants – Chinese fine-diner Lee
Ho Fook and Latino firebrand San Telmo – serving Group One snacks in a delicious race-day quinella. Spanish maverick MoVida and pasta stars Tipo 00 join the party for Super Saturday (Saturday 8 March) and TAB Australian Cup Day (Saturday 29 March) – a big whinny for racegoers and food fans alike. TAB Australian Cup Day will also welcome six additional mini bars to the mix for a celebration of excellent Victorian produce. A Melbourne Food & Wine Festival bar will pop up across all three race meets, pouring Victorian favourites, cocktails from Everleigh Bottling Co, hot tips and big-value roughies all Feast long.

Two of the world’s foremost voices in plant-based cuisine, Shannon Martinez and Philip Khoury, will come together for an exclusive pop-up bakery event at Smith + Deli on 22 March from 11am.

Philip is the Australian-born head pastry chef whose innovative approach to plant-based pastry at Harrods in London won him international acclaim, including the La Liste Pastry Innovation Award in Paris. With a background that includes three-hat Sydney restaurant Quay, as well as time working alongside pastry legend Adriano Zumbo, he has become a trailblazer in vegan pastry, and his new book, A New Way to Bake, is already becoming a benchmark in the field.

Shannon Martinez, the force behind Smith + Daughters and Smith + Deli, has spent 22 years in Melbourne’s kitchens on a mission to change the way people think about vegan food. An “unlikely poster girl” for plant-based dining, she has transformed vegan cuisine into a flavour-packed, high-impact and, inclusive experience that has taken three of her books to the bestseller lists, and her latest, Vegan Italian Food, is well on its way.

We're talking maple cakes, we're talking apple pie, we're talking chocolate mousse cake, we're talking strawberry tarts, we're talking A New Way to Bake. If pastry is something you love, or if eating or cooking vegan is something you care about, this is one festival event you're going to want to be part of.

Dim City presented by Emporium Melbourne celebrates 80 years of history's tastiest pork parcel with a giveaway of dimmies remixed by chefs Rosheen Kaul (ex-Etta), John Rivera (Askal) and Eun Hee An (Moon Mart), from 1pm till 4pm, Friday 28 March. The free, yes free, dimmies include Eun’s cheesy kimchi, Rosheen’s spicy lamb, chicken, coriander and green chill, and John’s sweet version with banana, jackfruit and caramel.

Something Saucy presented by Leggo’s is a pasta pop-up paradise in Melbourne’s Whitehart Lane with the Southern Italian talents behind cult Carlton carb merchants Super Norma. They’ll be serving their pasta alla Norma remixed into a pasta al forno to go, and Leggo’s is coming to the party, giving away jars of their Australian passata for you to take the good times home with you. You don’t need to book, you don’t need a ticket, from 11am till 2pm, Tuesday 25 March.

Tacos and Toum presented by Wesley Place is the Mexican and Middle Eastern is the cross-cultural snacktacular that will see Taco Truck founder and snack enthusiast Raph Rashid team up with hummus king Tom Sarafian to explore the meeting of these two grand culinary traditions. Tacos with a Lebanese accent and Mexico’s answer to kibbeh is the order of the day, brought to life by two friends who also happen to be two of Melbourne’s premier snack bosses. Think tacos de canasta with prawn, potato, toum and salsa verde, and goat kibbeh with Oaxacan cheese, labne and sumac - and best of all, they’re free. 11am to 2pm, Wednesday 26 March at Wesley Place.

Michelin-starred chef Konstantin Filippou of Restaurant Konstantin Filippou had one of the fastest selling Global Dining Series dinners at Vue de monde, selling out in a matter of minutes, and his new-to-the-program event at Bar Liberty is sure to be in hot demand. While he’s best known for the adventures in top-drawer gastronomy that have won him two Michelin stars at his eponymous fine-diner, Konstantin Filippou has also wowed food lovers with his takes on Greek cooking at his more casual Vienna restaurants O Boufés and Mama Konstantina. At this year’s festival Konstantin is complementing his high-flying engagements at Vue de Monde with a relaxed Sunday lunch offering at Bar Liberty in Fitzroy, with the option of a set menu drawing on his Greek heritage, as well as a late-afternoon gyros session, joined by his Austrian winemaker pals Gut Oggau, on Sunday 23 March

Other highlights of the Global Dining Series include:

• SoCal to South Yarra: Gracias Madre x Lona Misa unites Los Angeles’ leading plant-based Mexican restaurant, Gracias Madre, with Melbourne’s vibrant Lona Misa, for a collaboration that celebrates the rich flavours of Latin cuisine, with a focus on sustainability and seasonality. 21-29 March
• Everything is Connected: a Talk with Gut Oggau sees cult-Austrian winemakers Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe take over Abbotsford Convent for a talk on biodynamics, better farming, better living and wine with meaning. 23 March

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival’s Special Events program, presented by Square, returns for 2025, with more than 165 events right across Victoria. Highlights of the Special Events program include:

• The Queen x ST. ALi – Join the ST. ALi gang for a six-day-long party featuring curated bites by chef Matt Scardamaglia (ST. Ali) and cocktails by award-winning bartender Orlando Marzo (Loro). The event includes live music, a raw seafood bar, roaming canapés and cocktails, and the showstopping tiramisu espresso Martini. 21-29 March
• Step into the world of Hopper Joint – Embark on a Sri Lankan culinary journey at Hopper Joint, as co-owners Brahman Perera and Jason M. Jones, alongside chef Ronith Arlikatti, share the stories and inspirations behind this exciting restaurant. Enjoy a five-course feast, blending Arlikatti’s South Indian roots and Perera’s Sri Lankan family traditions. The signature hoppers will be on the menu, as well as unique gin cocktails. 27 March
• Sebastian White Beach Party - Head to Melbourne's best beachside venue for a Formentera-style white beach party. Indulge in Sebastian’s Basque-inspired delights like paella, pintxos, and bocadillos while taking in gorgeous views of Williamstown Beach. Dress in your best Mediterranean whites and enjoy great food, drinks, and music. As the afternoon unfolds, a DJ will spin from the rooftop of the grand bathing pavilion, transforming the scene into an epic beach celebration. 23 March

Baker’s Dozen, the large-scale two-day celebration of Melbourne’s obsession with cakes and baking, brings together the city’s finest bakers and cakers including To Be Frank, All Are Welcome,
Antara 128, Lumos, Baker Bleu, Kudo, Lulu & Me, Mietta by Rosemary, Madeleine de Proust, The Flour Melbourne, Monforte Viennoiserie, Raya, Tarts Anon, The Invy Baker x Urbanstead, plus special guests from Sydney, AP Bakery and Lune baking croissants all weekend long. It wouldn’t be autumn, meanwhile, without hot cross buns, and you’ll find every bun worth its butter at the Hot Cross Bun Bar, presented by Western Star. Gone are the days of fruit versus fruitless – at the Bun Bar, you’ll have the chance to try four different bakers’ takes on the classic, with Bread Club, Falco, Loafer and Melbourne’s own Baker’s Delight all coming to the party, hot and cross. Western Star will also have their Butter Butlers on hand, ensuring your choice of bun is suitably buttered. 10am till 3pm on Saturday 29 And Sunday 30 March.

In a coup for cardamom bun fans and fresh off the announcement of a new bakery at London’s Claridge’s, Richard Hart, a former head baker from San Francisco’s legendary Tartine will be bringing his wildly popular Copenhagen bakery Hart Bageri to Australia for the first time, popping up for the week at Melbourne Quarter from Monday 24 to Friday 28 March. We’re talking the likes of Danish buns, cheesecakes, spandauer, Hart’s famed city loaf, and (in a nod to Richard’s new Green Rhino brand in Mexico), pan de muerto. And, of course, those cardamom buns.

“From Melbourne’s iconic dining scene to our regional gastronomic treasures, this Festival continues to show why Victoria is a must-visit destination for food and wine lovers,” said Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos.

“This is another fantastic reminder of why we are the culinary and events capital of Australia, boosting local jobs and businesses through a jam-packed year-round calendar.”

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is supported by Victoria’s tourism and major events company, Visit Victoria. Tickets for the 2025 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, presented by La Trobe Financial, are on sale now.

The 2025 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival runs 21 to 30 March; for full details and all ticket sales visit mfwf.com.au; follow MFWF on Instagram at @melbfoodandwine for regular updates.