A pop-up artisan bakery rising daily in the heart of the city, a long lunch for 1,500 weaving through aleafy urban oasis, a rollicking ‘low and slow’ barbecue opening party, and a global discussion on thefuture of food – just some of the unique ways Melbourne’s vibrant culinary spirit will be celebratedfrom 27 ebruary to 15 March 2015.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) presented by Bank of Melbourne will take a journey tonew frontiers of flavour in some of Victoria’s most spectacular settings: from famous dining spots tounexpected venues, rooftop bars to hidden cellars, plus extraordinary locations across regionalVictoria; it’s a ticket to what food and wine in Melbourne is all about.
Artisan bread will be the rising star of MFWF’s pop-up hub for 2015: Festival Artisan Bakery and Bar.Transforming the blank canvas of Queensbridge Square for the fourth year with a creative one-offproject, MFWF will construct a working bakery, workshop space, and wine, brews and coffee barspreading the tempting aromas of freshly baked bread into the heart of Melbourne from day to night.In addition to a daily program of Australia’s most celebrated bakers, two international guests willshare their skills with Melbourne: Justin Gellatly from state-of-the-art bakery and baking school BreadAhead in London, and Éric Kayser, a fourth generation master baker from Paris with more than 80Maison Kayser locations worldwide.
Pioneering chef and author Dan Barber (Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York, USA) visitsAustralia for the first time to present at Theatre of Ideas: In Conversation with Dan Barber on 6 Marchat National Gallery of Victoria for his only Melbourne appearance. A must-attend event for anyonewith an interest in food and sustainability, Dan will share insights from his 10-year journey of writing TheThird Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Tickets to this one-off event are on sale now in a specialpre-program release.
International trailblazers will converge on Melbourne throughout the Festival to bring their signaturetastes and techniques for off-the-charts dining experiences. Pitmaster Rodney Scott from SouthCarolina’s Scott’s Bar-B-Que will celebrate the ‘low and slow’ fever at the Festival’s official openingparty with Rockwell and Sons (27 February). St Kilda’s Newmarket will welcome Eric Werner(Hartwood, Mexico) and his primal approach to open-fire cooking from the Yucatan jungle on 1March. And on 14 March, multi award-winning chef Simon Rogan (L’Enclume, UK) pays tribute to theedible wonders of the Australian landscape at The Royal Mail Hotel (Grampians).
Food, art and music will collide in a spectacular fashion as Melbourne’s great cultural institutions unitewith MFWF exclusively for 2015. Embrace solo dining at a special viewing of Andy Warhol’s JewishGeniuses and Warhol Now at Jewish Museum of Australia’s Table for One – Warhol Style, and at TheCreators, absorb the rich sights and sounds of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Dan Hunter’s Brae(Birregurra) and Andrew McConnell’s Cutler & Co. (Fitzroy) with the balanced tastes and textures oftheir carefully designed menus.
The Festival’s signature Langham Melbourne MasterClass, 7 – 8 March, gathers global greats for adynamic weekend of sharing inspirations, conversations and memory-making tastings. Taste theresults of decades of devotion to the culinary art from stars including the legendary Ruth Rogers fromRiver Café in London, cult café creator Bill Granger (Bill’s, UK, Australia and Japan), king of wildCanadian cuisine Jeremy Charles (Raymonds, St John’s, Canada), dessert maestro Janice Wong(2am:dessert bar, Singapore) and punk rocker turned nose-to-tail advocate Jamie Bissonnette(Coppa, Boston, and Toro, Boston and New York, USA).
New to Langham Melbourne MasterClass 2015, learn how to do one thing exceptionally well guidedby Australia’s most innovative and entertaining chefs at The Essentials ($50), from Benjamin Cooper(Kong, Richmond & Chin Chin, Melbourne) lifting the lid on pickles and fermentation, to Johnny diFrancesco (400 Gradi, Brunswick and Southbank) sharing the secrets to a world champion pizza.One long table will weave through the urban leafy oasis of Fitzroy Gardens for the iconic Bank ofMelbourne World’s Longest Lunch on the first day of the Festival, Friday 27 February. 1,500 revellerswill feast on a three-course menu designed by Shane Delia (Maha, Melbourne) and Adriano Zumbo(Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier, Melbourne), brought to life by Peter Rowland Catering.
For vinous discoveries, Return to Terroir, an extraordinary international gathering of more than 40biodynamic wineries will be one of three highlight wine events taking place at Melbourne Town Hall(28 February and 1 March). Acqua Panna Global Wine Experience also returns with two bold sessions– ‘The Classics’ and ‘The Not So Classics’ – to spark lively debate with benchmark wines from aroundthe world guided by leading wine commentators including Lisa Perotti-Brown (Singapore).
Acqua Panna Perfect Match brings food and wine personalities from across Australia to redefineultimate and adventurous food, wine and drinks pairings in a six-session series moderated by winewriter Matt Skinner. Explore if there’s more to street food combinations than burgers and beer andtacos and tequila with Raph Rashid (All Day Donuts, Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck, Melbourne)and wine writer Mike Bennie (Sydney), or take on spice and wine as winemaker Shashi Singh (Avani,Mornington Peninsula) and Adam D’Sylva (Coda and Tonka, Melbourne) find perfect partners forIndian-inspired dishes.
Festival cult hit Crawl ‘n’ Bite will uncover Melbourne’s hidden gems, hottest restaurants and mosttalked about dishes. Have a quintessentially Melbourne experience visiting three top venues on aprogressive crawl in an event series that boasts stop-off points including Epocha, Grossi FlorentinoUpstairs, Pastuso, Stokehouse City and Supernormal.
Elsewhere, Stephanie Alexander’s female alumni join at Union Dining for a celebration of their timeat Stephanie’s Restaurant; Shannon Bennett’s new Burnham Beeches hosts a Regional World’sLongest Lunch to toast the Australian-grown summer truffle; and Saint Crispin collaborate with PierreRoelofs and cross the north-south border for a pop-up at St Kilda Bowling Club.