For three days, Australian chefs and food trucks will come together to serve rice dishes from cuisines from around the globe at this year’s World Rice Festival. Alongside the gastronomic line-up, expect cultural performances, live music and cooking demonstrations.
Rice Paper Scissors is bringing sticky pork belly, barbeque lamb ribs and tofu rendang to the table. Hoy Pinoy will be serving flame-grilled meat skewers, and Lady Paella will dish seafood or chicken paella.
There’ll also be eats from Mamasita’s food truck, Red Spice Road, Thai barbeque experts Farang Thai Isaan BBQ, contemporary Indian from Mint-O-Mustard and Vietnamese street food by South Eats. Get cannoli from the Cannoleria Cart by That’s Amore, Mexican desserts from Chill Bro Paletas, and torched Thai rice pudding from The Brûlée Cart.
The HWKR marquee will present four pop-up food concepts, and the HWKR Chill Out Lounge will be the place to enjoy cocktails and snacks.
Ahead of their performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre, The Sound of Shadows will bring rare Indonesian instruments to life through an immersive concert. Indonesian vocalist Peni Candra Rini will also perform a ceremony to bring good fortune to rice harvests.
The line-up also includes Chinese lion dancing, Japanese taiko drumming, Balinese beleganjur drumming, Thai rice planting dance, Indonesian rice harvesting dance, traditional Indian dance and a Spanish flamenco dance at twilight.
The World Rice Festival will be on for three days at Birrarung Marr. A launch party will be held at HWKR on December 5. Tickets start at $45 and include two small dishes.
Opening hours:
Fri 5pm–10pm
Sat 12pm–10pm
Sun 12pm–5pm
Stephanie Vigilante 
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