World's Longest LUNCH 2026

Get ready, Australia: we're leaning into one of Melbourne's great culinary superpowers in 2026.

World's Longest Lunch, presented by La Trobe Financial, is going Greek.

In 2026, this essential event on the national dining calendar celebrates one of the most essential of Australia's diaspora communities: Greek Melbourne.

Greek Melbourne

Greek food in Melbourne is better than ever, with savvy new Greek dining experiences popping up all across the city, and we're harnessing that energy for Lunch with talent from CBD hit restaurant Kafeneion and Yarraville sensation Tzaki, and author Ella Mittas.

Ella is presenting a meze plate loaded with zucchini fritters with parsley, lemon and dill fava with pickled shallots, tzatziki with roast almonds, sour cherry dolmades, kefalograviera with honey and marjoram and yoghurt flatbread. Tzaki chef and owner Alex Xinis brings the deliciousness with his slow-roasted lamb shoulder with braised chickpeas (à la Athens' famed Diporto taverna) and mustard greens, and Con, Stav and the Kafeneion crew bring it on home with a stunning portokalopita, the classic Greek orange filo cake.

From humble beginnings on the turf at the MCG in 1993, the event now attracts 1,600 guests sitting down to a three-course meal prepared by our city's greatest chefs. Held across more than 600 metres of table winding through Kings Domain, this is a truly spectacular dining experience not to be missed.

Every ticket for the 2026 World's Longest Lunch, presented by La Trobe Financial, includes a three-course lunch designed by Ella Mittas, Tzaki and Kafeneion and prepared by Curtis Stone Events, and served by staff dressed to the nines by our apparel partner, Worktones, with wines by Tahbilk, beer by Holgate Brewhouse, still and sparkling waters from Capi, and coffee from Five Senses Coffee and La Marzocco, who will also be giving away a coffee machine, worth $5,999, on the day. With thanks to our Official SPF partner, MECCA COSMETICA, every guest receives a To Save Face SPF50+ Brightening Sun Serum.

This year we're dialling up the Lunch adventure even further with some excellent features. Our friends from Oceania Cruises®, the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused luxury cruise line, invite all lunch guests to join them at the Oceania Lounge at Kings Domain. Oceania Cruises features The Finest Cuisine at Sea on their eight small, luxurious ships offering destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. The Oceania Lounge will be a great place to enjoy meze inspired by their voyages through the Aegean and created by Melbourne's acclaimed Vanilla Lounge, Greek-influenced cocktails and a tasting of fine local ouzo from Otways Distillery.

It also wouldn't be Greek Melbourne without some entertainment, so we've got live music to bring the kefi.

It's World's Longest Lunch taken to the next level - and you're invited.

World's Longest Lunch 2026 | Presented by La Trobe Financial

Friday 20th March 2026 @ Kings Domain

2026 MFWF chefs

Ella Mittas, author
Ella Mittas is a chef and writer from Melbourne. Her Greek heritage and fascination with traditional foods and cooking styles led her to live and work in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Israel. Her recipes and food writing have appeared in The Design Files, The Guardian, Gourmet Traveller and The Saturday Paper. She owns a catering company, Ela Melbourne, where she teaches cooking classes and curates food events in collaboration with venues across Melbourne. The publication of her first book, Ela! Ela!, in 2024, saw her hailed by critics as "a remarkable new voice in food" and "the next go-to inspiration on your kitchen shelf".

Alex Xinis, Tzaki
Alex Xinis is the chef and owner of Tzaki, the Yarraville restaurant The Age described as "a place that feels as though it might exist in the trendy Athens of today, somewhere that exudes cool and freshness". His professional background spans 10 years at Hellenic Republic as well as two tours of duty in Greece with two-starred restaurant Funky Gourmet. He opened Tzaki in 2024, winning acclaim for his inspired wood-fired takes on Greek cuisine, and in September 2025 opened a more casual complement, bringing that same chef-driven approach to charcoal chicken at Kokoras.

Con Christopoulos and Stavros Konis, Kafeneion
Stav Konis and Con Christopoulos are both lifetime hospitality operators, first working together on Kafeneion, which opened as a pop-up on Bourke Street in 2023 before moving to its current home at the Melbourne Supper Club in 2024. Though Con is credited with having been one of the architects of the Melbourne style of hospitality and restaurant design, through such influential venues as The European, the Supper Club, City Wine Shop, Siglo, Butcher's Diner and Angel Music Bar, Kafeneion was the first in which he engaged with his Greek heritage. Stav, on the other hand, comes from a lifetime in Greek restaurants; his grandfather founded Salona, the Richmond Greek dining landmark, in 1969. Now, 56 years later, Stav has reopened it, bringing together his family cuisine and hospitality with the lessons he has learned working with Con at Kafeneion, giving it a new lease on life.

Tickets

Book via Melbournefoodandwine.au





 Kings Domain View Venue
 Kings Domain Melbourne Victoria  Map



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