A Taste of Melbourne

What's not to love? Some of the finest restaurants in town, all getting together to present punters with bite-sized.. taste sized, if you will morsels of their best dishes.

Longrain Bar are doing mohitos. Dear got in himmel, I am doomed before I begin!! Charcoal Lane is doing a wallaby tataki with ginger, soy and horseradish, MWR and Mr Wolf are putting up a vanilla pannacotta and blood orange jelly. However, Sarti is doing a pistacio "Panna cotta" with caramel salted popcorn.

Taste of Melbourne is unlike any other food and drink event.

For four days, selected restaurants will set up full professional kitchens to deliver a degustation menu like no other. These restaurants are offering over 40 of the city's most tantalizing signature dishes and this is just the start. It all takes place under one roof at the fabulous Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton from 26-29 August and will be the ultimate dinner party experience.

These taste-sized signature dishes are purchased with "Crowns" – the festival currency which can also be used to buy fine wines, champagnes and specialty beers from a range of bars and quality drink purveyors. Each signature dish will cost just 8-12 Crowns ($8 - $12).

A Taste Session lasts for 4 hours (5 on Sunday) and allows you enough time to browse around the event and enjoy the various features such as The Australian Gourmet Traveller Taste Kitchen, Taste Wine with Gourmet Traveller Wine, the Australian Gourmet Traveller Chef's Table and the Producers Market with over 100 fine food and drink exhibitors.

I'll be there, and will be roving reporting for SBS Food.

You can follow us @SBS_food on twitter while I gorge myself senseless, all in the name of taking one for the team.

Only for you, dear readers, would I put myself out like this.


Head over here for the whole programme.