Melbourne Food and Wine Week is upon us. If you’re a last-minute planner, don’t fear –the following events will provide some of finest snacking opportunities of the festival, and entry is free. At two of them, even the snacks are on the house.

So grab some pals, devise your dish hit list and plan for some quality time in the CBD beginning Monday March 24, when a series of events will kick off that require little more than turning up and eating well.

MFWF creative director Pat Nourse knows precisely where you should direct your efforts during the two-week food and drink festival. He shares his notes below.

Stay in the know with our free newsletter. The latest restaurants, must-see exhibitions, style trends, travel spots and more – curated by those who know.

SIGN UP

Tacos and Toum, for free, by two Melbourne snack kings

Raph Rashid and Tom Sarafian have been making some of Melbourne’s best snacks for years. When their powers combine, you get a twist on tacos de canasta and Lebanese kibbeh that we put money on being two of the most memorable dishes you’ll eat in 2025. Plus, they’re free. Tacos filled with prawn, potato, toum and salsa verde, plus goat kibbeh served with Oaxacan cheese, labne and sumac – you won’t pay a cent for either, as long as stocks last.

Pat’s scoop: “Tacos and Toum had its first outing at MFWF 2023 as a rollicking dinner out the back of Juanita Peaches and it remains one of my all-time favourite festival events. Tom and Raph’s conversation about Middle Eastern food in Mexico has only gotten richer and more lively. Prawn and potato tacos de canasta and goat kibbeh from two of the city’s ultimate snack bosses for free. What’s not to like?”

Tacos and Toum runs from 11am to 2pm, while stocks last, at Wesley Place in the CBD. Entry is free.

Cardamom buns, and more, by a Danish baking phenomenon

Rene Redzepi calls Copenhagen baker Richard Hart “the Bread Whisperer”. But Hart is as revered for his cardamom buns and pastries as for his sourdough loaves. At his five-day MFWF pop-up, you’ll be able to sample Hart Bageri buns and bread, as well as a bunch of other specials, including his signature sablé breton, but this time with Vegemite caramel.

Pat’s scoop: “You could go to be closer to The Bear (Lionel Boyce, who plays Marcus, spent two weeks there, training, then pops in for snacks when he goes to Copenhagen in season two). You could go to meet Rich (he’ll be there to shoot the breeze, answer your baking questions and sign books every day from 11.30am to noon). You could go to buy a cheesecake for a friend. You could go to try the Green Rhino side of the menu, with Mexican bakery goodies like conchas and pan de muerto that we don’t really see in Australia. Me, I’m just going because I want to eat the definitive cardamom bun.”

Hart Bageri at Melbourne Quarter runs from 9am to 1pm from Monday 24 to Friday 28 March, while stocks last. Entry is free.

Dim sim remixes by top Melbourne chefs

Dim sims were born in Melbourne (popularised in the 1940s by restaurateur and businessman William Chen Wing Young, and while the classic dim sim is an icon for a reason, change can be good. Especially in the hands of John Rivera (Kariton Sorbetes, Askal), Rosheen Kaul and Eun Hee An (Moon Mart), who MFWF has enlisted to reimagine the giant Victorian dumpling for its dim sim fest, Dim City. Get in early enough and you might pay nothing for your dimmies (there are hundreds to give away). Plus, there are bonus prizes from Emporium tenants like Marimekko and Le Creuset.

Pat’s scoop: “It’s not so much a question of how much you’re going to love it, but rather how much hecticity you’re up for. Rosheen’s lamb, cumin and green chilli remix is a gentle step from the dimmie you know and love into a spicier world beyond southern China. Eun then takes the ball and boots it into the air, going for a succulent pork and kimchi situation and dousing it in cheese sauce. John then blasts everything you know and love about the dim sim into the stratosphere (or the Filosphere, even), with a dim sim with a crisp casing drizzled with caramel that gives way to a hot, sweet filling of banana and jackfruit.”

Dim City runs from midday to 4pm, while stocks last, on March 28 at Emporium in the CBD. Entry is free.

Blue-Ribbon baked goods by the city’s finest

Cross-town bakery crawls are fun, but you can save a lot of time by hitting 13 (or more) in one go. This year marks the MFWF’s third Baker’s Dozen event, featuring a cavalcade of Melbourne’s most in-demand bakers serving up sweet and savoury icons and one-offs.

Keep an eye out for exclusive collabs by Iris The Bakery and Sydney’s celebrated AP Bakery, Inverloch micro-baker Invy Baker and Urbanstead (the new venture from Tivoli Road’s founders), and Baker Bleu and Hart Bageri. We’ve got the entire Bakers Dozen menu here, too, so you can map out your stall strategy.

Pat’s scoop: “We’ve got 67 different pastries from 17 bakers, plus nine kinds of hot cross buns – with the option of four butters from our butter butlers. I love the breadth of flavours that the bakers are working with. They’re tapping beautiful traditions and ingredients from France, from Scandinavia, from Georgia and most especially from Asia. There’s mango achaar with A.P Bread’s chicken focaccia, Raya is doing a siu mai sausage roll, there’s a peanut sambal in Antara’s duck sausage roll – the list goes on.”

Bakers Dozen runs from 10am until 3pm, or until sold out, on March 29 and March 30 at Fed Square. Entry is free.

Additional reporting by Audrey Payne.