After a last-minute Covid-related postponement in 2020 – followed by a jam-packed online edition and a series of open-air New Year’s Eve (and Day) Street Feasts – Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (MFWF) is storming into 2021 with big plans.

It’s back with a newly expanded, three-pronged program – essentially three separate festivals. In March a stack of just-announced events will take over the city, while the festival’s core programming will run for two weeks in winter. Then, the spring instalment will – for the first time ever – put the focus squarely on regional Victoria’s food and drink.

To start, the World’s Longest Lunch (for more than 1000 people) returns to Melbourne on March 12. The Treasury Gardens event will be led by a stellar line-up of hospitality heavyweights: Stephanie Alexander, Philippe Mouchel and Jacques Reymond. (Bonus: long-lunchers will get a curated list of nearby venues to kick on at afterwards.)

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New to the program this year, and tapping into the city’s cafe culture, is the World’s Longest Brunch on March 13. It’ll bring together two people who have defined daytime dining in Melbourne: Lune’s Kate Reid and
Liminal’s Nathan Toleman (of The Mulberry Group, which opened high-profile, game-changing cafes Higher Ground, The Kettle Black and Top Paddock before selling them in 2018). Expect decadent bread-and-butter pudding (made with Lune croissants), plus sweetened labneh, blackberry compote and granola.

For two nights, Tokyo Tina is moonlighting as a next-level Japanese convenience store, serving egg-salad sandos with spanner crab and yuzu kosho; karaage “hotboxes”; and onigiri dipped in trout and salmon roe. And Belles Hot Chicken is teaming up with NZ-based brewery Garage Project for Belles Clam Bar, where molluscs will come freshly shucked, crisp-fried and in the form of family-style clam bakes (with exciting brews and natural wines).

Meanwhile, O Tama Carey – chef-owner of Sydney’s Lankan Filling Station – is bound for Bar Lourinha, where she’ll dish up a Sri Lankan-Portuguese feast alongside executive chef Matt McConnell. And David Moyle (Longsong) is returning to Melbourne from Byron for a charry, flame-licked dinner at Etta, cooking alongside Rosheen Kaul and her team.

Other highlights include a pét-nat picnic at Drinkwell, Bar Liberty’s sun-drenched back courtyard; souped-up yum cha at Cantonese institution Flower Drum; a three-course mashup of Mexican and Japanese cuisines by Taquito and Ima Project; a one-night-only takeover of Above Board by destination restaurant O My; and La Luna’s suckling-pig feast, a festival staple, moves to sister venue Bouvier.

Another fresh addition to the program is Westside Crawls. The MFWF team has mapped out 12 crawls in 12 of Melbourne’s western suburbs, including Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale and Seddon. The West Footscray one will take you to new beer garden Zymurgy, modern Filipino joint Chibog and sort-of pizzeria Harley and Rose.

Looking for a more educational experience? Up your riesling knowledge at a five-course dinner at Chin Chin with group somm Jordan Marr, get hands-on at a pasta-making class with Scott Pickett at Pastore, or join a cider-making workshop at Rippon Lea Estate (where you’ll use a 19th-century cider press).

Find the full program and more information here. Tickets go on sale on February 12.

melbournefoodandwine.com.au