Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Regional Edition draws ever nearer, and it’s time to make space for the delicious things that await in Ballarat and the Yarra Valley. From some of the best beers in the country to exquisite modern Asian food served inside one of Australia’s most interesting art galleries, here’s everything you need to eat and drink in the Golden City, Ballarat, this Festival.
The Regional Edition kicks off in Ballarat with our flagship event, the World’s Longest Lunch, coming to you from brand-new hospitality precinct The Goods Shed. There’ll be a jambon persille – smoked ham hock suspended in crystalline wine-spiked gelatin – on the table courtesy of local smallgoods powerhouse Salt Kitchen Charcuterie, served with roasted apple chutney and wild garlic, followed by a slow-braised beef short rib, with a fricassee Mushroom Connection mushroom, porcini jus and chervil. Local baking baron 1816 Bakehouse puts paid to a festive spread with a burnt Basque cheesecake with wattleseed cream and fermented saltbush honeycomb.
Over on Mair Street, Renard throws open its French doors and invites you to take a closer look at Ballarat’s flourishing gin scene in an all-out daytime knees-up called Gin de Soif, replete with a cocktail tap takeover from local producers Grainery Lane, Red Duck, Kilderkin and Itinerant, plus petit burgers and delicious hors d’oeuvre.
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is set for a delicious makeover at the hands of celebrated Ballarat restaurateur Damien Jones. He’s responsible for some of Australia’s best Thai food, and he’ll be furnishing you with his everything he loves to cook, supported by local wines from the top-shelf likes of Attwoods, Bended Knee and Blue Pyrenees, while you make your way through the gallery with gallery director Louise Tegart.
Nearby on Doveton Street North, local favourite Mitchell Harris Wines plays host to a Sunday lunch full of Indigenous flavours and art – put together in collaboration with Perridak Arts, a First Nations-owned gallery that showcases local Indigenous artists and creators.
The following Friday, we descend to the basement of the Ballarat Mechanics Institute for a five-course degustation cooked by Peasant, a restaurant renowned for its modern take on European peasant food, matched with superb local juice.
On the Saturday it’s off to Grainery Lane to examine one very important question: is Ballarat the craft beer capital of regional Australia? Helping us get to the bottom of it are some of the state’s greatest brewers, including Dollar Bill Brewing, Aunty Jacks, Red Duck and Cubby Haus. Chef Scott Alsop has prepared a one-off four-course feast for the occasion, which will be paired with unique beers and good old chinwag.
And as the sun sets on a wonderful Festival, you’ll find us over at the Ballarat City Rowing Club, taking it all in with chef Jigs Liwanag, who has a four-course waterfront dinner with your name on it. That’ll be matched with top wines from five brilliant local winemakers, including Michael Unwin Wines, Tomboy Hill Wine, The Happy Winemaker and Terry Jobgbloed.
Things are about to get extremely tasty, people; make room, and make for Ballarat this Festival.