Everything Happening at Our Dine Out Food Festival This Week

Dine Out, our blockbuster new winter food festival, is here! There are radical collabs, unexpected pop-ups, one-off menus and other unmissable food events happening at our favourite venues across town until Sunday August 10.

Some events require a ticket or advance booking, but there’s still plenty you can simply rock up to and enjoy.

Not sure where to start? Here’s your Dine Out Melbourne cheat sheet.

Ones to book

Saturday August 9

• Alejandro Saravia of Farmer’s Daughters and Morena is teaming up with Moonhouse to bring Peruvian Chinese food to his restaurant Morena Barra. The one-day-only lunch and dinner service includes special Peruvian fried rice and braised pork spare ribs, fermented black bean and garlic sauce. – Dinner service is sold out. Book lunch service here.

• It’s potato everything for two-days at Eat Pierogi Make Love. The potato menu, available on Saturday August 9 and Sunday August 10 includes cheesy potato bake layered with bacon and Polish sausage and a sweet plum dessert dumpling made with potato. To drink, there’s vodka and a cocktail featuring fried potato syrup. – Book here.

Sunday August 10

• Herbs Taverne, one of Sydney’s best new bars, is headed to Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s timeless cocktail bar Apollo Inn. For one night only, the Herbs crew will stir up an array of signature Negronis, served alongside Martinis from Apollo Inn’s Lachlan Bentley. Book here. Walk-ins welcome.

• Arnold’s and Bar Spontana are two venues that go beyond the typical wine bar menu, offering Mexican and Thai dishes, respectively. They’ll pair up for a playful dinner at Bar Spontana. The set menu will focus on fermentation and charcoal grilling. Book here.

• The team from Mornington Peninsula winery Avani will pop up at Armadale wine bar Albert’s from midday to 4pm for a long lunch with one-off Indian dishes served alongside Avani wines. – Book here.

• It’s potato everything for two-days at Eat Pierogi Make Love. The potato menu, available on Saturday August 9 and Sunday August 10 includes cheesy potato bake layered with bacon and Polish sausage and a sweet plum dessert dumpling made with potato. To drink, there’s vodka and a cocktail featuring fried potato syrup. – Book here.

Special menu items

Some of our favourite venues are putting on special menu items for Dine Out. There’s no need to book for these – just turn up.

• Pidapipo is teaming up with Hot-Listed Masses Bagels to create a sourdough doughnut, available at all Pidapipo venues and Masses Bagels Fitzroy, until Sunday August 10. The $15 sourdough doughnut is dipped in rich caramel, topped with a crackly crème brûlée shell, and dusted with sesame and poppy seeds before being topped with a one-off Pidapipo gelato flavour.

• Tokyo Lamington has teamed up with Sydney’s Continental Deli for a Laming’tin (a tin layered with jam, chocolate and coconut) and a cheese and charcuterie-inspired pie filled with house-cured meats, cheeses and pickles. Both items are available from Tokyo Lamington’s Carlton store until Sunday August 10.

• St Ali and Piccolina are serving square-cut affogatos for $10 until Sunday August 10. They're available from all Piccolina stores and St Ali's South Melbourne cafe.

• Suupaa in Cremorne will have ramen hotdogs and vegetarian pizzas every day until Sunday August 10.

• Every night until Sunday August 10, Dodee Paidang on Little Collins Street will make just 15 serves of crispy-skin barramundi fillet served with tom kha – a fragrant coconut and galangal soup. Get in early to avoid missing out.

• Molli in Abbotsford will serve a Jerusalem-artichoke-and-mushroom fry bread snack with a Little Dreamer cocktail for $22 until Sunday August 10. The cocktail is a riff on a Rosé Negroni made with The Mulberry Group’s Greenhouse gin, Saint Felix Bitter Aperitivo, bianco vermouth and preserved cumquat.

• It’s Martinis and bikinis at Marmelo. Drop in for a truffle-infused Martini served alongside a bikini (Spanish toasted cheese sandwich) with slices of black truffle. The combo is $36 and available until Sunday August 10.

• Head to Marmelo’s sibling bar Mr Mills for a Cinnamon Negroni with a warm Portuguese tart on the side for $28. Available until Sunday August 10.

• The CBD’s multi-venue complex Her (comprised of Music Room, Her Bar, BKK and Her Rooftop) will serve a special Spiced Winter Citrus Sour made with whisky, pear, winter spice, aquafaba and a house-made citrus syrup. The cocktail is $24 available across the entire venue until Sunday August 10.

• Hazel will serve modern takes on nostalgic Aussie pub dishes including saucy shanks and minute steaks until Sunday August 10. Single-plate specials with a glass of wine are available for $30.

• Bahama Gold is adding an Italian special to the menu until Sunday August 10. Enjoy a truffle and confit-egg-yolk white-base pizza, paired with a glass of Radikon red or orange, for $65. Or skip the drink and opt for the porchetta pizza, with fried potato and salsa verde, for $45.

• From Wednesday August 6 to Sunday August 10, Don’s chef Riley Swaffield is putting on a one-off special of spiced prawn toast with sumac pickles and fermented lemon yoghurt for $14. The team will also be pouring magnums of Clément Lavallée Chablis Blanc 2022 by the glass for $18.

• Dessous is putting on a snack and cocktail pairing for $22 until Saturday August 9. Enjoy a snack and a riff on a classic Margarita, made with house-made hot sauce and lacto-fermented habanero chillies

• Kensington’s La Tortilleria will have house-made tetelas (stuffed and fried triangular pockets made from corn dough) filled with stringy Oaxacan cheese and served with grilled prawns and a traditional mole sauce until Sunday August 10.

• Stop by Frankie’s Tortas and Tacos for volcano tacos (grilled steak, chorizo and melted Oaxacan cheese on a crisp tostada) until Sunday August 10.

• From Wednesday August 6 to Sunday August 10, Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca will serve prawn pappardelle ripiene (house-made stuffed pasta) served with a creamy prawn and saffron bisque and prawn meat poached in butter.

• Baker Bleu and Six-Eyed Scorpion are teaming up on three specials available from Thursday August 7 to Sunday August 10. There’ll be a chilli oil-brushed fougasse with maple, nori and fried shallots; and a savoury twist glazed with chilli oil available at all three Baker Blue stores. As well as a Cremorne-exclusive toastie loaded with charred spring onions, gooey cheddar, ginger, sesame and chilli oil.

• Poodle Bar & Bistro is putting on a snack and cocktail special from Tuesday August 5 to Sunday August 10 from 5pm to 10pm. To eat, there’s a snacky, sliced ox tongue sanga with fluffy white bread and peppery horseradish cream for $18. To drink, a new spin on the Manhattan made with aged Michel Couvreur VJ whiskey and Cocchi Vermouth di Torino for $25.

Sold out and past events

Monday August 4

• Sydney’s newly revamped Hungarian institution Corner 75 is in town for a collab dinner with Carlton favourite Bistra.

• Shane Delia’s CBD restaurant Maha is hosting a truffle dinner showcasing Western Australian truffles from Manjimup with matched wines from Mount Mary Wines.

• Ross O’Meara of SBS series Gourmet Farmer is preparing a set menu featuring wild game at Carlton Wine Room. He’ll also be joined by Carlton Wine Room’s Andrew Joy for a discussion about ethical hunting and the environmental benefits of wild game.

Tuesday August 5

• Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca’s head chef Sam Mederiros is taking over the kitchen at Mulberry Group (Hazel, Dessou) wine bar Lilac for one night only. Mederiros will prepare a three-course menu including Lilac’s signature woodfired sourdough paired with Rocco’s hot honey, and flame-baked ricotta gnocchi for $70 per person.

Wednesday August 6

• For one night only, Windsor pizzeria Freddy’s is serving a set menu with one clear star – montanara, a Neapolitan-style pizza using fried dough topped with pomodoro, parmigiano and basil. The fried pizza will be served alongside antipasto, gnocchi with beef ragu and a winter salad. There’ll also be Tommy’s aperitivo spritz, wines from importers Il Mercante and a dessert cocktail.

• Grant Smillie, Andrew Mackinnon and Jerome Borazio’s Yarra River bar Ponyfish Island is hosting a pickleback party from 5pm to midnight.

• Spanish restaurant Bar Lourinhã is celebrating Iberian flavours and dishes lifted from its nearly 20-year history.

• Rathdown Street cafe Florian, maker of one of the city’s best omelettes, and the crew at Collingwood Yards hotspot Hope St Radio are making breakfast for dinner. – Sold out.

• Alisdair Brooke-Taylor of Canberra’s Bar Rochford, and formerly of now-shuttered Moorcock Inn in West Yorkshire, will stop by Public Wine Shop in Fitzroy North to prepare a set menu.

Thursday August 7

• Junda Khoo has invited two Sydney chefs to Ho Jiak for a one-night-only menu. Khoo will be joined by sushi master Toshihiko Oe of Sydney’s Sushi Oe and Corey Costelloe of 20 Chapel (number 93 on the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants list in 2025).

• Legendary chef Brigitte Hafner and James Broadway of Red Hill’s Tedesca Osteria will team up with Carnation Canteen’s Audrey Shaw (a Tedesca alumnus) for a one-night-only dinner at Carnation. Hafner and Shaw will prepare dishes from the Tedesca archive. – Tickets sold out. Limited room for walk-ins available.

• Melbourne’s pre-eminent cheese duo, Ellie and Sam Studd, are stopping by Allegro for a cheese-packed dinner with matched wines from Zonzo Estate.

• Sydney chef Mitch Orr is stopping by Grant Smillie’s Hollywood-inspired Crown venue Marmont for Snaxxx Vol 1. There’ll be $15 mini Martinis and six snacks from Orr – including a Wagyu halal snack pack and a crumpet with smoked butter and anchovy – to order as you please. – Book here.

• Stokehouse is hosting a four-course dinner celebrating all things oysters and Wagyu for one night only.

• Johnny’s Green Room is transforming into Super Milano, an ode to 1980s Milan. Johnny’s chef Karen Martini will create a winter snack menu and the team from Hope St Radio will curate the music. – Sold out.

Sunday August 10

• Gen-Z favourite Cam’s Kiosk will team up with 19-year-old Hot-Listed institution Gerald’s Bar for an evening of one-off snacks, DJs and drinks at Cam’s Kiosk. – Sold out.

• Sri Lankan spot Lankan Tucker is collaborating with Spanish chef Ana Cortes-Garcia of Andalusian Tapas Club for a one-off lunch that blends Spanish and Sri Lankan cuisines. Dishes including biryani and socarrat (the crisp, caramelised edge of paella) on toast. – Sold out