The Best Things We Ate At The 2026 Queen Vic Winter Night Market

The Queen Victoria Market is a Melbourne icon year-round—aisles of souvenirs, endless tables sprawling with fresh produce, windows upon windows of fresh cheese and deli goods. Having served Melbourne for nearly 150 years, it's about as institution-worthy as it gets. 

It's always special, but something a little bit magic takes over in winter. At a time of year when a good majority of us would likely rather be firmly wrapped in blankets by 6pm, instead, tens of thousands of us head to the Market. 

And Melbourne, it's finally that time again. From 5pm to 10pm every Wednesday night between 3 June and 26 August, the Queen Victoria Winter Night Market is back with roving entertainment, performers (yes, you should join in on a singalong around the piano), open fires, and of course, an incredible lineup of food and drink. 

With over 50 vendors to choose from—including gooey raclette dishes, soup served in bread bowls, BBQ to your heart's content, and more cuisines than we can keep track of—ordering dinner has never been more overwhelming, so we've done the hard yards and narrowed down a list of our top picks for your next market trip.

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Classic Mussels And Chips At Orleans Moules-Frites

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Serving up their take on classic French moules-frites, the team at Orleans Moules-Frites cooks fresh mussels in a rich white wine cream sauce, and serves them in a bowl of that same sauce stacked with freshly cooked hot chips for a tidy $24.

We loved this salty and soupy bowl. The mussels are a real no-brainer for seafood lovers and the hot chippies are the perfect vessel for dipping and soaking up all that rich sauce. If you're after something hot and comforting but want a little more than soup, this might just be the answer to your winter prayers. 

Birria Tacos At Dingo Ate My Taco

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A viral sentation, Dingo Ate My Taco's hype is more than worthy. As the original birria taco spot in Melbourne, it'd be almost rude not to pay this Texan Taqueria a visit. The tortillas are handmade fresh each day (you can even see them rolling them out at the stall), stuffed wil slow-cooked, smoky brisket and grilled until nice and crispy, served, of course, with a rich consommé for dipping. 

At $25, the birria plate feels substantial without being too filling (leaving room for sampling more stalls), and the consommé is another hot answer to staying nice and toasty. 

Lamb Plate At The Black Sheep

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Nothing says 'Winter Night Market' quite like cooking over an open flame. The team at The Black Sheep are cooking authentic Greek spit rotisserie meats, and our pick was the lamb. Coming in as the most expensive dish of the night at $28, it was also the most substantial meal, and well worth it. 

The meat is cooked over hot charcoal (which also works as a nice makeshift heater while you wait for your order), and served with all the good stuff: hot chips, Greek salad, pita bread, tzatziki and a lemon dressing.

Truffle And Cheese Coin At Lucky Coin

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Inspired by Korean street food, Lucky Coin flips crispy, buttery pancakes stuffed with your choice of filling.

Take your pick of sweet and savoury flavours, with pistachio, nutella, cheese, double cheese, and truffle and cheese all on the menu (yep, one for the cheese fans). We're big on truffle, so it was an easy choice for us. It set us back a cool $15. 

The cheese pull on this was next level, stretching for a good metre or so. The truffle flavour was strong, so keep that in mind if you're not huge on it, but the mozzerella still got its time in the sun, bringing that creamy, stringy goodness and balancing out the punch of the truffle. 

Loukamades At St Gerry's

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A sweet treat to wrap it all up; the loukoumades at St Gerry's were a highlight of the night. We went for a two-flavour combo with half honey, cinammon and walnut, and half hazelnut chocolate and peanuts. An incredible (arguably unbeatable) combo, if we don't say so ourselves, making for the ultimate winter dessert. 

Main image credit: Queen Victoria Winter Night Market | Supplied