Melbourne Food and Wine Festival runs from 20 to 29 March with some wild events on offer.
Sure, you could spend the 10-day festival doing the usual wine dinners and degustation menus. Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has always delivered on that front. But buried in this year’s program are experiences that go way beyond your standard sit-down affair.
We’re talking cocktails in a 19th-century prison, wine tours via public tram and after-dark adventures through the zoo. Here are five of the most unexpectedly brilliant events worth booking.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Cell Block Speakeasy at Old Melbourne Gaol
- 28 March
- Old Melbourne Gaol, 377 Russell Street, Melbourne
- Tickets here
Old Melbourne Gaol is trading its grim history for roaring 1920s glamour as the heritage site transforms into a prohibition-era speakeasy for one night only.
The cell blocks where Ned Kelly once walked will be decked out with low lighting, vintage styling and period music, creating an atmospheric drinking den among the bluestone walls. Armed with a stamp card, you’ll explore four unique spaces throughout the gaol, each serving a signature cocktail inspired by the era. Between stops, roving service keeps the drinks flowing with curated wines, beers and soft options paired with canapés. Tickets cost $200 for general admission or $180 for National Trust members.
Tram del Vino!
- 28 March
- Starts at The Alps, 64 Commercial Road, Prahran
- Tickets here
This might be the most Melbourne thing ever conceived.
Board the 72 tram for a progressive wine journey through Europe’s great regions without leaving the inner south. Tram del Vino! kicks off at The Alps wine bar in Prahran with alpine wines from high-altitude European producers, matched with vitello tonnato, bagna càuda with crudités and charcuterie. From there, you’ll rattle down to Toorak Cellars for coastal Italian and French drops paired with breezy seafood snacks like fish rillettes and Mediterranean pasta. The finale lands at Milton for wines from Campania, Tuscany and the plains around Naples, alongside wood-fired pizza from the pizza capital of the world. Twenty-plus wines across three stops, all connected by public transport, for $150.
The Funny Feast: A Comedy Dining Experience
- 23-24 March
- Morris House, 120 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
- Tickets here
Sweeney Preston and Ethan Cavanagh are the duo behind In Pour Taste: A Comedy Wine Tasting Experience, a show that’s done so well it currently has a Las Vegas residency.
Now they’re bringing their food-and-comedy formula to Morris House for The Funny Feast, a four-course dinner where the punchlines land as reliably as the plates. The pair have built careers out of combining stand-up with culinary experiences, and this event promises a dining room full of belly laughs alongside matched wines. Tickets are $158 and include four courses with drinks. The show runs across two nights, so you’ve got options if one sells out.
An After Dark Culinary Adventure at Melbourne Zoo
- 28 March
- Melbourne Zoo, Elliot Avenue, Parkville
- Tickets here
Forget the standard sit-down dinner format.
An After Dark Culinary Adventure at Melbourne Zoo is a roving five-stop progressive menu that takes you through the zoo grounds at sunset and by moonlight. Created by Compass Group National executive chef Leo Gstrein, the experience prioritises discovery and the unexpected over rigid timetables and long lectures. You’ll wander through precincts with food and drink in hand, encountering surprises around corners, with the evening culminating in a mystery dessert showcase and live entertainment. This is the kind of event where you genuinely don’t know what’s coming around the bend. Tickets are $295 and include the five-course menu, matched drinks and after-hours access to the zoo.
Love On the Cards: Singles Night
- 26 March
- Lilac Wine, 31 Stephenson Street, Cremorne
- Tickets here
Dating apps are cooked and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival knows it.
Love On the Cards throws out the swipe-right playbook entirely, teaming up with We Met at a Bar, a drinking card game designed to get conversation flowing between strangers. Lilac Wine in Cremorne hosts this flirty evening where your $50 ticket is fully redeemable on food and drinks, so you’re essentially paying nothing to attend. The menu includes oysters, house-made charcuterie, dolmades, lamb skewers and crisp zucchini fritters, with live entertainment and a discount code for the card game thrown in. You’ll leave with either a new connection or at least a very full stomach.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival runs from 20 to 29 March across venues throughout the city and regional Victoria.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
