The download: Everything you need to eat, drink, make and book this week

A bite-sized recap of the biggest stories of the week, so you know where to go and what to order across Melbourne and Victoria. Check in each week so you can be the smartest person in your group chat.

Stay up to date with all the latest food news, recipes and reviews on the Good Food app, now available from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store now.

Easter treats in Melbourne that aren’t (quite) hot cross buns

We rounded up our favourite picks for the best hot cross buns in town (see below), but Melbourne’s Easter pantry is also stocked with plenty of HCB-adjacent goodies for those who like things a little less traditional. Pidapipo’s cult-favourite hot cross doughnut is back, featuring a hot cross bun-flavoured doughnut filled with custard on one side, and figs on the other, all topped with almond gelato and spiced caramel sauce. It’s also doing hand-made, single-origin dark and milk chocolate eggs.

Meanwhile at select Baker Bleu stores, in addition to its hot cross bun range, it’s also offering specialty Easter drinks and sweets. The South Yarra outpost is doing a hot cross bun soft infused with raisins, orange, ginger and spices, and serve topped with spiced crumble, salted caramel and candied orange. It’s also making an iced Market Lane batch brew finished with a HCB-inspired cold foam infused with raisins, cinnamon and orange, also available at Baker Bleu’s Cremorne store.

And in Avondale Heights, the tiny, family-run Cannoli Bar has baked its only non-Sicilian dessert this year with three types of HCB: traditional piped with vanilla custard, chocolate chip filled with nutella and piped with chocolate custard, and a plain bun stuffed with pistachio cream.

Stomping Ground launches new beer (plus a happy hour pop-up) with Melbourne Comedy Festival

Melbourne’s annual Comedy Festival kicks off this week with a slew of hilarious shows slated to run across four weeks until April 19. There are also some special activations on the ground this year to celebrate the festival’s 40th anniversary, including local brewery and festival partner Stomping Ground’s limited release “40 Years of Funny” pale ale. It’s available at all festival venues and beer halls including a public pop-up running adjacent to Melbourne Town Hall on Swanston Street every day of the schedule (including over Easter!). The bar features a full drinks and snacks menu and a happy hour from 5.30 to 7pm daily featuring two for $20 tinnies across select Stomping Ground beers.

Recipe: Celebrate zucchini season with this moreish Italian classic

These bite-sized pieces of fried zucchini goodness are made in several regions of Italy, but this particular recipe was given to us by Abruzzo-born Vincenzo Prosperi, who alongside wife Suzanne is the face behind YouTube cooking channel Vincenzo’s Plate. Featuring zucchini, which are at their best right now, Propseri shares exactly how to make his mother Maria’s moreish frittelle di zucchine, or zucchini fritters. See the full recipe here and save it in your own custom recipe folder on the Good Food app.

Where to find 15 of Melbourne’s very best hot cross buns

Heading into your favourite bakeries to see if their hot cross buns are as good as last year’s is like a late summer sport. Then there are all the newcomers you need to trial. Do they use peel or not? Is it sweet or all about spice? Luckily, the Good Food team has done the legwork. Compare our favourites with your own, or consider this your reminder that your annual bun-eating window is fast closing. Read here for 15 of our top picks across town.

Taste test! The best supermarket buns and crisps

Good Food Guide co-editor Frank Sweet placed his tastebuds on the line this month in the name of research, putting in the hard yards to determine the best chocolate hot cross buns on the market at local supermarkets, and which plain crisps are the best of the bunch. Head here for the definitive (and brutal) ranking of non-traditional Easter buns, or here for the blind taste test of 17 different plain salted packet potato chips, from run-of-the-mill to fancy, and everything in between.

The Download: Friday, March 20

Sweet deal: East Brunswick Village Great Aussie BBQ

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival kicks off this weekend with a bang. On Sunday, head to East Brunswick Village for a final taste of summer with the Great Aussie Barbecue where some of Melbourne’s favourite venues are firing up the barbie. There’ll be vegemite and smoked cheddar snags from Hagen’s, charcoal chicken by Rumi, a K-BBQ lunch box from Dodam, wine tastings at Blackhearts & Sparrows, live entertainment and more than 25 local stallholders selling handmade wares – just to name a few highlights. Plus, the weather is looking mighty fine too. Entry is free.

Sydney’s Euca gelato popping up at St Ali for four days only

Sydney gelateria Euca has arrived south of the border with a special four-day pop-up at St Ali’s South Melbourne cafe. The cult-favourite coffee brand has teamed up with Euca to create a decadent flavour that sees mascarpone and lemon myrtle combined with a dark chocolate swirl, stracciatella coffee sauce, chocolate cookie tuile wafers, and a wattleseed crumble. It’s a mouthful worth getting behind. Head to the Yarra Place cafe between Thursday, March 19 and Sunday, March 22 to get your hands on the new scoop, available from noon to 8pm.

The ultimate Good Food guide to dining in Castlemaine

Once better known for galleries, gardens and gold rush history, highly walkable Castlemaine is now also one of Victoria’s most fun places to dine. Thanks to keen diners and tree-changing tastemakers, you can start your day with pastries and coffee on one side of town, and end the night sipping cocktails with a live swing band on the other. Whether you’re passing through on a road trip up north, or settling in for the weekend, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite Castlemaine spots for a bite or beverage. See the full list here and create your own road trip hit list on the Good Food app.

Melbourne hot spots host some of Asia’s best bars in four-day festival

This week, pop-up concept Behind the Lanes is putting on the ultimate celebration of hospitality across four days in Melbourne. On Wednesday, March 18, new Chinese-inspired cocktail bar Moondrop is joining forces with two of Asia’s acclaimed bars, Seoul’s Sookhee speakeasy-style bar, and Shanghai’s Epic bar, for a night of experimental cocktails. Collingwood’s hidden cocktail bar Above Board is also hosting Singapore’s Laut and Taipei’s Bar Pine on Wednesday evening, while moody Japanese-inspired bar One or Two is collaborating with Seoul’s Ace Four Club. Throughout the week, Behind the Lane is also hosting daily coffee, cocktail and aperitivo hours, plus a morning rave on Saturday, March 21. Find out more info here.

The eight supermarket items to always have on hand

Nutritionist, bestselling author and mother of three Sarah Pound pairs her professional expertise with the pragmatism of a realist. With a million-strong Instagram community, she understands the modern struggle: people are time-poor, budget-conscious and over the “organic kale” sermons. Having a fridge, freezer and pantry full of staples that you know pass the healthy-as-possible acid test is a huge step towards easy weeknight meals, she says. In a shopping trip with Good Food, Pound shared the eight items she’s never without, and her favourite quick recipe for each.

Hot ticket: A progressive dinner at Melbourne Zoo with MFWF

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival returns this week with a stacked line-up of more than 200 events. As part of the program, Melbourne Zoo is opening its gates after hours for one night only on Saturday, March 28, for a roving feast across the precinct that features five courses inspired by the native environment. Expect live entertainment, a mystery dessert experience, and a progressive dinner like no other including a guided tour through multiple of the zoo’s habitats. Tickets are $295 and can be purchased here. You can also find more of the festival’s highlights wrapped up in a handy guide here.

Melbourne chefs share their favourite crisps and hot chips

Ask a chef about chips and you’ll still be talking seasoning, crunch and condiments hours later. Chips might be one of the more humble snacks out there, but it’s not just a matter of throwing some potatoes in oil, adding salt and hoping for the best. Like all simple dishes, the devil is in the details. In honour of Good Food’s Chip Month, 10 Melbourne chefs have divulged the packets of crisps and spots for hot chips across town that they turn to every time. Read the full list here and take note.

Hot ticket: Grampians Grape Escape festival with Analiese Gregory

One of the country’s longest-running food festivals is back this May with a jam-packed weekend in the picturesque Grampians town of Halls Gap. This year, Grampians Grape Escape showcases produce from more than 100 local winemakers, producers, distillers, brewers and makers, alongside live music, kids’ activities, masterclasses and more. Heading up the program is celebrated Tasmanian chef Analiese Gregory (ex-Quay) who will be joined by a slew of other chefs and producers across the weekend. The festival runs from Friday, May 1 to Sunday, May 3. Tickets start from $40 for a Friday day pass, but be sure to book soon as spots (and nearby accommodation) will fill quickly. Shuttle buses are available, or if you’re making the trek via car, see our recommendations here for restaurants, bakeries and cafes worth stopping at along the way.

Sweet deal: Harvest Lunch series returns to Cumulus Inc.

The autumn Harvest Lunch is back this month at Andrew McConnell’s hatted Flinders Lane restaurant, Cumulus Inc. It’s the perfect opportunity to sample an elegant, seasonal three-course meal for under $100 – provided you can stop in for a weekday lunch. The menu features the best produce available this month, including a tomato and peach salad with buffalo mozzarella; red mullet with shellfish escabeche; and black fig clafoutis cake with fig leaf ice-cream. It’s just $55 for two courses, or $65 for three, from noon to 6pm on Monday through to Friday for the entirety of March.

Melbourne Market unlocks wholesale produce prices to the public every Saturday

Usually only open to registered grocer and restaurant buyers, mega wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower trading centre Melbourne Market in Epping is opening its heavily discounted fresh produce prices) to the public with Super Saturdays, launching this Saturday, January 31. Running each Saturday from 8.30am to 1.30pm until late April, shoppers will have access to bulk wholesale specials including limited deals this weekend to celebrate the launch. There’ll be10kg boxes of nectarines for just $8 for the first 150 customers, plus 5kg trays of nectarines and peaches for $25, and eggs for $2 a dozen (or $3.50 for two dozen). The market will also host food vendors and facepainting for kids – find out more here.

Save your favourite recipes and restaurants on the Good Food app

No more dog-earing your recipe books. The Good Food app has launched a new saved function, which allows you to compile all your favourite recipes in one easy place. Simply click the bookmark icon to save, then head to the Saved page on the navigation panel to view. The Good Food app is home to more than 10,000 recipes from Australia’s top cooks, including Nagi Maehashi, Adam Liaw, Helen Goh, Neil Perry, Karen Martini, Emelia Jackson and more.