Annual food and wine festivals around Brisbane

Everybody needs to eat, but for some, eating is more than a necessity or even a hobby – it’s an obsession. If you fall into the latter category it might be worth filing this article away or adding every Brisbane food festival date into your diary. Now, where did we put those stretchy pants…

Sweet As Dessert Festival | 3 June

What: A super sweet festival lining up Brisbane’s best dessert makers.
Why go: To eat your weight in brownies, doughnuts, cake, cookies, meringue, cupcakes, macarons, waffles, slices, ice-cream and chocolate. There will also be coffee and savoury options, plus entertainment, pop-up bars and music.
Highlight: Your impending sugar rush, also dogs are allowed in.

Briz Chilli Fest | 10 June 2018

What: Chilli food, chilli cocktails and hot entertainment
Why go: Not that Brisbane gets that cold in winter, but this festival in Bulimba will be bringing the heat with live music, salsa dancing, food stalls, pop-up bars and donkey rides.
Highlight: Chilli cook-off and chilli-eating contest.

Brisbane BBQ Festival | 30 June & 1 July

What: Like eating or cooking barbecued meats of all kinds? This is the festival for you.
Why go: To eat all the meats and up your own barbecue game at home with demonstrations, contests and plenty of food stalls from Brisbane and around Australia.
Highlight: Watch the uber-competitive BBQ cooking competition take place

Scenic Rim Eat Local Week | 30 June – 8 July 2018

What: Local produce on show with farm tours, cooking classes, producer dinners, pop-up cafes and other low-cost fun.
Why go: Chance to connect with your farmer and learn where food comes from.
Highlight: Winter Harvest Festival on 7 July is the star attraction and will be full day of events at Aratula.

Le Festival – Brisbane French Festival | 6-8 July 2018

What: A festival that celebrates French culture in the heart of Brisbane.
Why go: To wear stripes and a beret, eat French food, listen to French music and sit in the winter sunshine.
Highlight: Eating snails, croissants, cheese, crepes and tasting wine from Bordeaux and beyond.

Teneriffe Festival | 7 July 2018

What: Celebrate the past, present and future of Teneriffe with live music, history and a whole lot of food and bevs.
Why go: To eat and drink the best that Teneriffe has to offer.
Highlight: Eating and drinking fine food and wine by the water with your doggo.

Regional Flavours presented by The Courier Mail | 21-22 July 2018

Regional Flavours

What: Experience Queensland on a plate at South Bank’s free food and wine festival.
Why go: Taste the best produce from Queensland farmers and gourmet food stalls, plus meet celebrity chefs and enjoy demonstrations.
Highlight: Depends on what you enjoy – could be tasting all the wine, or sitting on the grass at River Quay with tasting plates and DJ tunes.

Brisbane Times Night Noodle Markets | July 2018

What: Oodles of noodles – explore this street food market of Asian hawker-style stalls open at night.
Why go: For around two weeks, the Night Noodle Markets turn South Bank into an after-dark playground of all Asian cuisines and specialty street food.
Highlight: Taro’s truffle ramen, lion dancing and Filipino skewers (look for the smoke).

Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) | 10 – 19 August 2018

What: Over 10 days, Queensland’s agricultural show attracts 400,000 people each year to a mammoth food and farming festival.
Why go: It’s Queensland’s largest annual event, back for its 142nd year and celebrates life in Queensland. Go to see the woodchop, stand next to giant cows and buy a showbag.
Highlight: An award-winning steak and XXXX followed by a strawberry sundae ice cream.

Effervescence Champagne Festival | 2 September 2018

What: A festival completing dedicated to Champagne and the Champagne region.
Why go: There’s champagne so why wouldn’t you? But also expect food, cooking demonstrations, live music and a number of VIP events  including masterclasses, champagne matched long lunches, champagne breakfasts and more.
Highlight: Walk the ‘champagne trail’ where a variety of tasting stations will be set-up.

Moreton Bay Food & Wine Festival | 8-9 September 2018

What: The first ever food festival in the Moreton Bay Region kicks off with a weekend-long celebration by the seaside at Redcliffe.
Why go: Expect cooking demonstrations, celebrity chefs, pop-up bars and dining, tastings, live entertainment and a mammoth fireworks display over the bay on Saturday night.
Highlight: Entry is free, plus there will be ticketed special events such as the pop-up Bee Gees Way dinner.

Scandinavian Festival | 9 September 2018

What: The best of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Estonian food, music and style celebrated for one day in Brisbane.
Why go: There’s a smorgasbord of traditional food and drink, music and dance and perhaps a historic tale or two. There’s also traditional activities for children such as a Lego playroom, a Viking painting studio, Swedish floor ball.
Highlight: Norwegian waffles, Swedish meatballs, Danish pastries and more…

Oktoberfest Brisbane | 5-7 & 12-14 October 2018

What: Don your dirndl and lederhosen and get to the Brisbane Showgrounds to take part in Oktoberfest.
Why go: Indulge in tradition and try bratwurst, pork knuckles (Schweinshaxe), and Black Forest cake (Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte) with a side of German-brewed beer.
Highlight: Dancing the Fleigeleid and shouting Prost!

Good Food & Wine Show | 26-28 October

What: The Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre fills with a mammoth number of food and drink stalls.
Why go: Sip and sample new products, Australian wine regions and more.
Highlight: Cheese alley and cooking demonstrations

Straddie Oyster Festival | Mid November 2018

The world’s second-largest sand island is just a short ferry ride from Brisbane, and once a year it celebrates the oyster harvest with a big seafood festival. Think oyster shucking, mud crab racing, maybe mullet throwing and guaranteed good times on island time ahead.

2019 food festivals

Brisbane Ice Cream Festival | March 2019

What: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!
Why go: Venture through a wonderland of gelato, ice-cream sandwiches, popsicles, and old school ice-cream vans in the old Peters Ice Cream Factory at West Village.
Highlight: Bird’s Nest Yakitori whipped up a weird but wonderful savoury flavour in 2018.

Fish Lane Festival | May 2019

What: Pop-up bars, food stalls and music fill this hip laneway.
Why go: To sample small plates of restaurant food and drink craft beer and gin in the sunshine.
Highlight: Duck buns from Chu the Phat, fish from Ol’ School and anything from Gelato Messina.

Paniyiri Greek Festival | May 2019

 

What: Greek culture on a plate
Why go: To celebrate Greek culture in Brisbane, which is best done with plates of slow-cooked lamb, baby octopus and halloumi with a side of dancing.
Highlight: Eating your body weight in honey puffs.

Indie Spirits Tasting | May 2019

What: You, your mates and over 100 mostly-Aussie independent craft spirits to taste over an afternoon.
Why go: It’s a chance to try-before-you-buy all the new, up-and-coming Australian spirit makers and other little-known producers from around the world.
Highlight: Besides the tasting, the free seminars and panels are super interesting. And there are free bar snacks.

Did we miss a food festival in Brisbane? Let us know at aninstantonthelips@gmail.com

Facebook Comments Box