Elite Event: Taste Test VIP Experience

Oh what a simply fantastic night ! Melbourne certainly turned it on for us also, beautiful night with ice cold cider in our own private garden suite. Feeling fancy much? I enjoyed every aspect of the taste of Melbourne, I sampled some fantastic food, had a good chat & laugh with other Unilocalers & learnt more than I even realised possible about wine glasses, who knew wine tastes change depending on the glass?
Stand out of the night was the soft shell crab sovlaki from gazi, my taste buds were in their happy place. I had fantastic lobster rolls from Mr claws but the cost of them hurt & ruined the experience a little as the size of the roll was miniature but you win some, you lose some.
Big thanks to Mel for yet another amazing event =)

As my first Unilocal Elite event in Melbourne, this was a fabulous introduction to the foodie and drinkie culture of my new home. The Taste of Melbourne is an outdoor exploration of some of Melbourne’s favorite restaurants, wineries, breweries, and food producers — all in an intimate, garden setting. For us Elites, we had a special sitting area and our very own bartender, Lachlan. Lachlan was such a pro, keeping an eye on our drinks and coming round with refills before we could even ask! As the Man and I strolled through the booth areas, I found the crowd very polite and the lines not too long. Every vendor was happy to chat about their products and the sample sized food portions were expensive but of a very high quality. Later that evening, we attended a class by Cake, a line of glassmakers, that takes their crystal very, very seriously. I learned a lot about stemware, and I’m not sure I’ll ever look at a wine glass the same way again! Thank you Mel, for fun night and a wonderful introduction to Melbourne Unilocal

Absolutely loved this one. Such a great idea to have some sectioned off areas for a bar with tables + chairs to escape the crowd! The Unilocalers must have felt very elite!
Loved the Cannon course and getting to play around with 70Ds.
Well organised event and once again amazingly fun night organed by Unilocal Melbourne, well done Mel P!

Oh Melbourne, you saucy minx, what fantastic weather you gave us to enjoy the super exclusive Unilocal Garden Suite. With utterly divine floral arrangements, pretty blue chairs and one of the friendliest bar tenders, the young Lachlan. I don’t know how Mel arranged such wonderful weather, beautiful people and a great all round evening.
It was such a relief to have our own private space to relax in. After a hard days work
A sneaky check in offer saw me zoomed off to the Canon food photography course. A half hour of playing with some very fancy cameras, lovely people and great dishes from some of Melbourne’s best restaurants and suppliers. Accompanied by the infamous Alan popping up with some very helpful tips and tricks this was a fantastic way to enjoy food and learn a few new tricks. I was super excited to receive my SD card with all my magnificent and not so magnificent photos.
The evening ended with a warm spring evening walk around the vendors having a sneak peak on summer offerings.
Huge thanks to Mel for such a great evening.
~Taste of Melbourne~
Highlights– Chicken liver parfait pillows. Don’t question just eat.
LP Champagne free flowing around the whole event. Such a delicious fresh spring bubbles.
Adequate toilets, regularly attended to around the venue.
Lowlights–
Severe lack of bins. With everything served on paper plates and plastic cups there needed to be adequate places to dispose of items. At the end of the night the areas looked more like the aftermass of the Melbourne Cup, not a fine dining Melbourne experience. Where there was bins to be found they were full. Over flowingly full.
Crowns system. Having to purchase a fictional currency. Some vendors gladly accepted. Others sneakily asked for cash or eftpos payments.

My oh my! Although I was little late and flustered to the event, my newbie Unilocaler +1 was there to join me with a white wine in the fancy Unilocal corporate garden suite! It was so Pleasantville like! The bartender was polite and always quick to top up if we were low! Beautiful flowers were arranged, some lovely outdoor high top tables and chairs, but also intimate spaces with boxed cushy chairs.
What I loved about the night was the use of the Crown card, you would pay $ 1 deposit for the use of the card, then top it up with money that you would like to spend at the exhibitors or restaurants at the event. 1 Crown = $ 1AUD. It was an efficient way of dealing with money instead of handling money at the place of service. Because lines, food and money can get a bit hectic! At the end of the night, you will get back the leftover money and the deposit.
Foods that were amazing:
Spicy chunky lobster roll from Mr. Claws
Sondra Jr burger from Huxtaburger
Thai style king prawn salad from The Smith/​Lucy Liu
Pinchitos Morunos from Movida
Frozen banana covered in chocolate by Absolutely Banana
The handy little Taste of Melbourne menu card was great! At every food moment we were able to retreat back to the garden suite to sit down and relax, it was great!
We also had a great time learning about the romance of tea/​art of tea at the Dilmah marquee. 6 boxes (20 bags in each) of specialty tea for $ 5! They were practically giving them away!
An honourable mention goes to the funny staff at the Boss Man Food marquee, while we were eating our frozen bananas, they had mentioned they also sell those! Very tongue in cheek!
I was happily buzzed and on behalf of my friend and I, we would like to thank Mel for her organisation in this fantastic event because we had a blast!