All posts filed under: Eat

Wicked Chocolate Festival

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If you’ve got a massive sweet tooth like us, then Prahran Market’s Wicked Chocolate Festival will be your idea of heaven! On Saturday May 7, the entire Market will be transformed into a chocolate wonderland of sensory delights and the cost of entry is free! See, taste, smell and enjoy everything chocolate with foodie fun activities suitable for the whole family, including a Taste the Chocolate Trail ticketed event featuring the Market’s mouth-watering chocolate delicacies; a pop-up Chocolate Precinct; free chocolate cooking demos, a producers’ stage, a ticketed cake making event at Essential Ingredient, free tastings and more. There’ll be all sorts of chocolate goodies from some of Melbourne’s best dessert makers include Doughboy Doughnuts, Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, Bibelot, Butterbing Cookie Sandwiches and Pana Chocolate . When: 10:30-5pm, 7 May Where: Prahran Markets Visit the website here.

Asian Street Food Weekend

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Over the next three days The Food Truck Park™ will transform Preston into an Asian themed foodies dream with a modern twist – food trucks.  Combining familiar flavours with speciality dishes, this will be the one place to experience all your favourite Asian food trucks all weekend long. Expect all  your favourite Asian style foodie trucks including Hello Saigon, White Guy Cooks Thai, Ghost Kitchen, Nem N’ Nem, That Nasi Lemak Guy, Hello Saigon, Yo India plus more! Make the most of the sunny Autumn days while you still can! When: 8- 10 April Where: The Food Truck Park Preston Visit the website here.

Wine and Cheese Fest

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The Wine and Cheese Fest returns this weekend and this year they are in a brand new location! Following the great success of the 2014 and 2015 spring events at Seaworks in Williamstown, The Wine and Cheese Fest is moving to the Meat Market heritage building in North Melbourne with new autumn outlook. Take a wander through the various stalls on offer with over 40+ exhibitors showcasing their best cheeses and wine! There’ll also be live entertainment including a jazz band and DJ, plus take part in the annual  Grape Stomp Comp and win a prize! When: April 10, 11am – 7pm Where: Meat Market, 3 Blackwood St,  North Melbourne Visit the website here.  

Get Messy at House of Crabs

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Tucked away under the Newmarket Hotel, House of Crabs St Kilda is a blink and you almost miss it, hidden gem in the southside. Originally from Sydney, the crab shack’s rockabilly pub style vibe with band on stage is a stark contrast to the more modern, clean, upmarket restaurant upstairs. The menu is a mix of Southen-style seafood “boils” in delicious sauces (think crabs, mussels and prawns) alongside meats such as chicken and ribs on the grill, and side snacks to go with it. To wash down your seafood feast, there’s also the most delicious and mouthwatering traditional cocktails you can get your hands on. We tried the lageritas, peach cobblers and Alabama Slammas and we can guarantee you that they’re some of the most interesting cocktails we’ve tried in Melbourne. And in case you were wondering, if it’s a go-to date venue –  The answer is yes! To soak up that crab splatter, you’ll get a bib (and gloves) to wear, which is a grade A talking point for when things get awkward on a …

505 Wine Room

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505 Wine Room officially opened on Tuesday and it’s the perfect destination for an early bite or a late supper. Housed in the historic ‘Bush Inn’ building, the designer space is inviting and modern, with exposed industrial beams and bespoke steel work and juxtaposing colour scheme included indigo and aqua. Patrons can choose to either sit in the main bar downstairs with casual high tops or cafe style tables, or if you want something more intimate or private there’s also the plush and decadent cocktail lounge upstairs. The menu is sure to make you drool with  a range of delicious options including Tuna Ceviche, local Snapper with zucchini, fragile, leads and pine nuts, Slow Cooked Lam Shoulder and Violet Crumble Honeycomb with Chocolate Aeros and ice cream. Making it easy to choose which wine to choose with each dish, each menu item is mapped out by what wine suits. Where: 505 Malvern Road, Toorak  When: Open  7 days a week from 12pm until late; Happy hour is of course at 5:05pm, for 55 minutes and offers $5 wines …

Pretty Mama

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Tucked away off the main street, Pretty Mama is a little hard to find, but definitely worth the hunt. Opening just last month, the Carribean grill restaurant breathes life into the ‘New York’ side of the city. Michael Cotter (Gumbo Kitchen food truck and Po’ Boy Quarter) and Shae Silvestro (Brooks Der Raum) are the brains behind Pretty Mama collaborating with Head Chef, Clinton Gresham (Cobb Lane Bakery, Mamasita) and what an outstanding job they’ve done. If you didn’t already know, we used to be a regular at Gumbo Kitchen – and it was definitely one of our favourite food trucks when they were around – so we knew we were in for a treat when we heard about Pretty Mama. Chatting to Michael after the meal, we could see his passion for New Orleans and southern food which was shown through each of the dishes. We went with the waiter’s recommendations and ordered a few of each of the smaller dishes plus a main dish, none of which we could fault. The jerk chicken was …

Red Spice QV

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Recently our We Know Melbourne team got to sample the new season’s menu at Red Spice QV (only 5 minutes walk from the Swanston and Welcome Hotels). Red Spice combines influences from locations as diverse as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Burma and pairs them with the flair and expertise of head Chef John McLeay. A delicious tray of lamb bao John was present at this exclusive tasting and helped to explain how he arrived at many of the creative dishes on display. Highlights of the new menu include the pulled lamb bao with coriander and house made mayonnaise. However our personal favourites were the prawn fritters with chilli jam on deep fried betel leaf. Amazingly tasty and refreshing! Where: Red Spice QV

House of Crabs is coming to Melbourne!

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Sydney favourite, House of Crabs is coming to Melbourne this month opening up in St Kilda’s Newmarket Hotel. It is a bibs on, eat with your hands, share-between-friends affair that pays tribute to American-style crab joints. The menu will be a blend of American style seafood – think Coney Island mixed with Louisiana –  choose from crabs, prawns and mussels with Cajun, Creole, Spicy Malay, Singapore and Lemon Pepper sauces. To round off the menu there’ll also be snacks like  Lobster Fries, Buttermilk chicken bits, soft shell tacos and fried chilli squid. If you’re after something more sizeable, cruise over to the grill and sample Caroline style chicken, St Louis pork ribs, Balmain Bugs, Scotch Fillet or a Whole baby snapper with a side of Smoked sausage, Edamame, ‘Sizzler’ cheese bread or Smashed corn with Dorito crumbs. The drinks list will also be southern style with New Orleans classics likeHurricanes, Peach Cobblers, Alabama Slammas and Blackberry Mint Juleps alongside a tight selection of very sinkable beers and Jersey Shore-esque (extra, extra large) frozen Margaritas. The …

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival

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Melbourne foodies, get ready for a gastronomical heaven at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival kicking off later this week. Since launching in 1993 with a modest program of 12 events, the festival has grown to over 200 events with something for everyone’s taste. Here’s our pick of the top events you can’t miss which you can still get tickets for: River Graze – 4 March – 6 March Sample the River Graze, kicking off the 2016 Festival’s Opening Weekend. Graze your way through the weekend along the Yarra River with a variety of culinary hot-spots, free entertainment, regional flavours, and water ferries to get you from one spot to another. Gourmet Cinemas – 2 March – 6 March If there’s two things that Melburnians love, it is food and film so when they’re combined, it’s the ultimate Melbourne experience. Each  Gourmet Cinema session will be presented by one of five iconic Melbourne restaurants (Epocha, Le Bon Ton, Mamasita, European and Baby), who will curate a cinematic food journey inspired by a film favourite (The …

Square Pop Up Market

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Melbourne’s best small businesses are coming together for a three day pop-up marketplace at Federation Square this March. Whether you’re a foodie, design geek or just a market lover, Square Market will have you dipping into your wallets to support your  favourite local businesses. Stalls include Market Lane Coffee, Shortstop Coffee & Donuts, Mork Chocolate, That Dapper Chap, Butterbing Cookies, Those Girls, Cobb Lane Bakery, Adriano Zumbo, Sensory Lab, Hunters’ Roots, 5 & Dime Bagel and many more—plus joining emerging artists, homewares designers, illustrators, crafters and buskers. Entry to Square Market is completely free. When: March 9 – March 11 Where: Atrium, Federation Square Visit the website here.  Want to find out more about what’s happening in Melbourne? Sign up to the We Know Melbourne mailing list here to stay in the loop.