The read
For 20 years the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has been a red-letter event on the calendar of Victorians with a passion for eating and drinking.
So, to celebrate its second decade, the festival has released a book featuring the talents of the internationally recognised chefs who have contributed to its success. Published by Murdoch Books, with an eloquent foreword by Melbourne food writer Michael Harden, the book features an exclusive collection of recipes from participating culinary legends gathered over 20 years.
There’s Shannon Bennett’s sublimely simple mushroom risotto and Fergus Henderson’s classic chocolate ice-cream. Other contributors include Tony Bilson, Antonio Carluccio, Bill Granger, Jacques Reymond, Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, George Calombaris, Tony Tan and Alla Wolf-Tasker.
We’re giving away a copy of Cooking With the World’s Best: Celebrating 20 Years of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival ($49.99)
www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au
The treat
Dessert master Darren Purchese from Burch & Purchese is one of the talented presenters hosting a Langham Melbourne MasterClass this year. Purchese has a reputation for theatrical, unconventional and truly delicious creations, and his session is sure to justify his premise that desserts should come first.
Also during the festival, the Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio in South Yarra will host a special Champagne and dessert degustation dinner, entitled A Sweet Revolution, on
March 12-13.
To tempt you before the festival, we’re giving away a voucher for one of the studio’s signature cakes in tantalising flavours such as pistachio with strawberry and rose-petal jam or chocolate mousse cake with Murray River-salted caramel and burnt-mandarin cream ($49)
www.burchandpurchese.com
The feast
The lentil and grain crops are in and the olives are maturing nicely. So join the folk at Mount Zero Olive Grove for their long-table dryland festival feast to celebrate the beauty of the Grampians and the Wimmera plains.
The banquet will feature the best produce of the region – local lamb, goat and turkey accompanied by French-style green lentils, farro and chickpeas – elegantly matched to wines produced by local vineyard Best’s Wines. The feast will be held at 41 Mount Zero Road, Laharum, on Saturday, March 17, from 1-4pm.
We’re giving away two tickets (valued at $130)
www.mountzeroolives.com
The sip
The festival’s gala dinner is a glamorous black-tie feast that unashamedly celebrates Melbourne’s place on the global gastronomic map.
This year’s event, to be held beneath the stunning high-ceilinged splendour of the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton on Saturday, March 10, will feature a four-course menu of regal proportions from Michelin-starred chefs and local heroes.
The wines selected to accompany the meal are top drops to add to any wine collection.
We’re giving away three twin packs of wine from Maison de Grand Esprit, Seppelt and Baileys of Glenrowan wine (valued at $150)
The place
What better place to be than at the festival’s opening weekend Cellar Door & Farm Gate, where 58 wineries bring their goods to you. Craft brewers and artisan producers are included in the line-up, to be held on a grassy patch alongside the Yarra. There will be live music, an opportunity to stock your pantry from a bounty of Victorian cheeses and artisan breads, charcuterie, gourmet ice-creams and more.
Cellar Door runs on Saturday and Sunday March 3-4 at the South Wharf Promenade, from noon to 5pm.
We’re giving away a double pass (valued at $70)
The spoil
Internationally renowned chefs from France, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium and Italy will participate in the Stars of Stars events hosted by Crown restaurants at the
20th-anniversary festival. Thierry Marx and Stephane Bour will create a fantasy dinner predicting what diners will be eating in 2032 at Number 8 Restaurant and Wine Bar; Serge Vieira and Jacques Marcon will demonstrate the new face of French gastronomy at JJ’s Bar and Grill; Mok Kit Keung will create a banquet at Silks and Jun Yukimura will showcase his Japanese masterpieces at Koko.
To celebrate its involvement in this event, Crown is giving away a restaurant dinner voucher (valued at $250) to allow diners to experience these fabulous restaurants before or after the festival.
www.crowncasino.com.au
Win everything on this page
One lucky TWR reader will win all the items in this month’s hamper.
For a chance to win The Hamper pack, go here and tell us what ort of dinner will be created by Thierry Marx and Stephane Bour.