Truffle Melbourne Festival 2020

Overview

UPDATE: JULY 10, 2020 — The Truffle Melbourne Festival pop-up remains open at this time. For full details and opening hours, check out the festival's Instagram and website. And for more information about what you can and can't do during lockdown, head to the DHHS website.

If you're walking through the aisles of seafood, cheese slabs and miscellaneous Aussie paraphernalia at the Queen Victoria Market until the end of August and happen to think, "gee, I could really do with some truffles", there's a chance you might be in luck. Once again in 2020, the market is host its annual Truffle Melbourne Festival. Like many things this year, it's going ahead with a few changes — but that means more chances for you to get your truffle fix.

No longer just the terrain of your posh great aunt and people at fancy French restaurants, truffles are more accessible than ever (albeit with a price tag). The Truffle Melbourne Festival initially started out at Prahran Market, and has been the biggest event on Melbourne's truffle calendar for the last five years — returning to the Queen Vic Market for the fourth time, and taking place at he Truffle Melbourne pop-up for three months.

Expect fresh truffles and other truffle-infused products at the weekday markets from 10am–2pm, and on weekends from 10am–3pm. Expect the likes of truffle aioli, truffle honey and truffle dijonnaise as well — plus more truffle-filled items from the festival's website.

While Truffle Melbourne Festival has scaled back its activities — so there won't be live chef demos or mock truffle hunts — you can also book in for an actual truffle hunt. They're ticketed, being run with social-distancing requirements in mind, and will take you scouring for truffles in Gippsland (with Truffle House and Truffle Paddock), Wattle Flat (with Black Cat Truffles) and on the Mornington Peninsula (with Red Hill Truffles).