Multicultural Markets Food Tour – Melbourne’s Global Tastes

Fab day out exploring the Markets. Our guide was really knowledgeable, easy going and attentive. Stops were perfectly balanced between sweet and savoury. All the tastings were delicious and we didn’t leaving feeling too full which meant we could grab something for lunch after wandering through the stall. Definitely recommend.

Anna was an AMAZING, fun and full of knowledge tour guide. Loved the tour so much. Me and mu partner had so much fun and ate a lot of good food and hidden gems✨

This was a great tour of Queen Vic Market. It was an intimate experience with Anna and she made the tour very enjoyable. She provided great insights into the history of the market and was very personable throughout the tour. She catered the tour to you likings and interest, notably our dietary requirements. The tour highlighted the vast array of multicultural cuisines Melbourne has to offer. Would recommend to anyone interested in spending the afternoon at the market. One suggestion would be to arrive a bit earlier to find the meeting point at the Multicultural Hub as it was a bit difficult to navigate using maps.

It was a great way to spend a weekend morning. Learned a lot about the history of Queen Victoria Market and its people. We had a very knowledgeable and personable tour guide, who introduced us to traders along the way. Shoutout to Sam the gelato man and Bruce of Bruce Goose!

We had a great time with Anna to walk around Queen Victoria Market. She is super friendly and very knowledgeable about the market.

Nice and quick tour that provides a lot of great tastes. Highly recommend it to anyone trying find something quick to do and learn about Melbourne.

We had a wonderful experience exploring the Queen Victoria Market with our local guide. The tour was engaging, informative, and gave us a much deeper understanding of the market’s history, its diverse cultures, and the stories behind the local traders. We especially enjoyed walking through the bustling morning market, tasting a variety of delicious local samples, and learning about Melbourne’s vibrant food culture and community. Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate, making the experience both enjoyable and memorable. This tour is a fantastic way to discover one of Melbourne’s most iconic landmarks. We would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the city.

Tour guide was great! A lot of history, didn’t feel rushed, laughs, and comfortable. Would definitely recommend!

Fantastic walking tour providing a taste for a little of everything. Provided great history and information about the market, leaving lots of room to explore.

We loved this tour, so much interesting history and delicious food. It was great to meet some of the artisans and traders, and to visit a social enterprise coffee shop. Tristan was an excellent guide and lovely to chat to.

Tristan was fantastic! The tour was both entertaining and educational and we had a great day out as locals. The tasting were incredible and I couldn't recommend it more if you're visiting or have been in Melbourne forever!

Tristan was a great tour guide! Really fun and educational.

This was is fantastic tour, we got to sample foods from the markets, Tristan our guide was full of info, telling about the history of the markets while taking us around the market.

Great morning out. As a local, it was great to learn, see and understand the history and the current running’s of the market. Tristan was very knowledgeable and eager to show us around. It was great to see what great organisations exist at the market and how they are making an impact. The stops were great and the trying of unique products at the market was a great experience. I would recommend this tour to anyone, especially any locals who want to learn more about the market and the store holders.

This was a real gem of a tour ; Tristan was so knowledgeable and engaging and clearly had built good relationships with storeholders - we didn't know what to expect but loved it !

What a great way to get to know your way around this fascinating market. There was a perfect mix of history and food. Definitely don’t have breakfast before you go! Thank you Tristan for giving such an excellent tour.

Anna was a fantasic tour guide. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of the food market. The selection of food that we got to eat as part of the tour was absolutely divine! Oysters were fresh and the deli platter was amazing! Thank you Anna. Highly recommend trying this tour if you’re in Melbourne.

Qv market is a fantastic multicultural melting pot of food and products. It’s great when a diverse mix of strangers join up with a knowledgeable and engaging guide and see an interesting venue. Within a very short space of time we were sharing thoughts on the things we were seeing and tasting and learning about each other’s backgrounds and interests. I can absolutely recommend it.

Great perspectives on the history of Melbourne and the market, particularly the food and drink culture - loved the ‘coffee was the gateway drug to European food culture’ bit. Tastings were really good - even as a Melbourne local we went to areas of the market we don’t usually go to, and met someone lovely stall holders. Particularly liked the all Australian deli - we’ll be visiting there again for sure - but the coffee, donuts, and Gelato were also very good. Overall it was a great tour - this was our second tour with Tristan and he was really great again.

What a delicious morning! Anna is a wonderful storyteller and brought our international group together so well that by the end of the 3 hours, we had inside jokes and so many laughs. Such a great tour to surprise my husband with for his birthday.

Tristan was a great guide and we learned so much about the Queen Victoria Market. The food we sampled was all delicious and the tour is recommended for tourists as well as Melbournians.

Enjoyed every minute of this tour by Anna, who patiently shared her wealth of knowledge about the market history and design aspects of building, traders background and stuff that you would normally don’t think about when roaming the place without a trusted guide

We had Anna and she was a great guide and provided valuable insight into the history and culture of queen Victoria market. It was done at a very good pace, allowing us to absorb the beauty and culture and diversity of the market. Anna was extremely articulate and very thankful for her guide. We also had very yummy food along the way.

Amazing tour. Lots of delicious food tastings and a coffee to end the day. Very interesting tour of an iconic Melbourne market.

An awesome tour with great food and beverage tastings and a lovely guide, Anna. A fascinating taste (literally) of Melbourne's multicultural history. Highly recommended!

Anna was polite friendly knowledge and professional - learnt a lot and ate a lot! Would highly recommend going on this tour!

Despite having shopped at Vic Market for decades, the tour gave me an opportunity to slow down and actually learn about this historical place with delicious food sampling. Anna was very knowledgeable in sharing the information with the group.

Amazing guide, great food, I was so full at the end! And just happy of meeting nice people and knowing more about the place. You won't regret it.

Fantastic tour to go with friends on a solo plan on the weekend, great histories meeting the locals at the local businesses, food was fantastic.

Anna the tour leader was amazing, she was knowledgeable and fun. We all learned something knew, tasted amazing food and had so much fun. Highly recommended.

A great way to spend a few hours hearing about the history of the market and sampling the best the market has to offer. Some very generous samples were included from a number of vendors in the market, plus a coffee, gelato and donut. Tour guide Tristian was extremely knowledgeable about the market and had some great recommendations for things to do and see around Melbourne. Definitely recommend for locals or tourists.

I took this tour as part of a free promotion, but I believe it's decently priced at $75, given the small group size and the included tastings like an oyster, a borek, and gelato. As a local, it was hard to be impressed by a tour of the Queen Victoria Market, but I did learn a few new things, which was a pleasant surprise. However, the tour's framing felt misleading. While the market itself is multicultural, the tour was not. The guide's approach to food could be seen a culturally insensitive. The guide showed little knowledge or appreciation for certain cuisines, describing them with a hint of disdain that could easily offend. This was highlighted by her judgmental tone when she discussed the market's 'unhygienic' past, a comment that seemed to ignore the reality of how many traditional wet markets operate worldwide. On the converse the guide celebrated European food with great enthusiasm. In the end, the tour felt whitewashed and failed to genuinely celebrate the market's diversity. Slightly disappointed in Intrepid and perhaps some unconcious bias training is in order. (As in the guide probably didn't even realise how they could come across to some people.) Also I felt it was worthwhile to mention that the the guide also showed little empathy for three small business's that are in the precinct with a purpose that secretly they want displaced / relocated to allow other social enterprises that space. Sure I get it, but they're small business owners too.

This was a great small group tour. Friendly leader, interesting history info and we got to try some great tastings 😋 100% recommend

The tour guide was very interesting and shared much information about the history of the market and clearly knew through research. The tour guide knew a lot about the produce and where and how it was sourced. The guide had great relationships shops with the stall holders.

Got to the designated meet-up spot. No guide arrived. Called and emailed vendor several times (was during its regular business hours). No response. Waited half hour & then gave up. Vendor called 2 hours later to inform me there was a scheduling error so no guide had been assigned.

So many tasty treats in the market and incredible history….still continues to influence Melbourne’s evolution. Great tour…should have done it earlier in my stay!!

The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The history was very interesting, and the variety of tastings was great.

What a great tour and fabulous insight into Melbourne culture and foodie history. The food was delicious and everyone in the group of 8 had plenty to try, most of us bought items as well. The tour leader Tristian was extremely knowledgeable and pleasant, I would definitely recommend him and will book more tours with him next time we are in Melbourne. Coming to the Australian Open and doing some Urban Adventures tours was the very best use of free time! It made our trip!

Highly recommend this tour for both tourists and locals alike. It’s a great way to see the markets and get to know the stories and faces behind the produce. Tristan was fantastic, very knowledgeable and was fantastic at making sure everyone was included and accommodated for. It was such a special experience to meet the store vendors, hear their stories and try samples of produce that you otherwise might not know existed.

To really understand a new city, heading to the hustle and bustle of the market place is a great place to start. The it paints and living portrait of how a city develops through trade and commerce. Our tour guide, Tristan, was both knowledgeable and artful in creating the picture of the history and importance of Queen Victoria Market. The vendors who provided food tastings were both generous and instructive, and the food was delicious. Well worth the time investment to really appreciate the background of the marketplace.

Enjoyed going into the many areas of the market. The food was wonderful - the doughnuts, the cheeses, the gelato!!! Our tour guide was delightful and so informative.

Queen Victoria market tour - did it on Tuesday which was a good choice as later on in the week the market is very busy. Good background of the markets history .lovelystall owners who are proud of their products good value

My tour ended up just being myself and the tour guide since it wasn't a busy travel season, and this was one of the highlights of my whole trip. My tour guide Anna was so sweet, I cannot stress enough how lucky I felt that I happened to book this tour! She was so insightful about the history of the market and how it continues to operate in the modern day. I really appreciated her perspective as a local and her eagerness to share what she knew about Melbourne. She even went out of her way to help recommend, based on my interests, places to visit and restaurants to eat at in the area. Although there are some specific stalls you visit, I feel like your experience is shaped by what you like and what you show interest in (and also probably, who your tour guide is!) I brought up as we passed a stall that I'd never had an actual Turkish delight, and she ended up buying a bag as an inclusion in the tour! I think the food that is usually included are a coffee, donuts form the infamous American Doughnut Kitchen, bureks (basically a savory or sweet stuffed pastry), an antipasto, and gelato. I didn't find the tour to be jam packed with food, it felt like a good amount just to try some stuff as you stroll around and learn about the market. You could certainly explore the market on your own, but this experience was exactly what I was looking for.

Great walking Victoria Market tour with Tristan. He is very knowledgeable about the history of the market. We enjoyed great coffee & tastes of cheeses & meats, and finished with delicious gelato.

Tristan did a fantastic job of showing us around the impressive Queen Victoria Market. From the complimentary coffee at the start to the cup of handmade gelato at the end, this excursion was full of food samples and introductions to many of the vendors who give the market its vibe.

Excellent, knowledgeable guide. Very hot but he made sure we were comfortable and not rushed at all. Enjoyed conversations and food samples from the traders. Overall an enjoyable and informative experience.

Good introduction to the Victoria st markets however only a few tastings and not really value for money. Some knowledge gaps on what is at the markets.

We really enjoyed the whole experience. Our tour guide Tristan was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Lots of food to try . Highly recommend

We visited the South Melbourne markets because the Queen Victoria markets were not open that day. Our guide, Tristan said he was less familiar with these markets but reassured us that they were good to visit. The markets are definitely worth a visit but largely we felt we could have made our own way around them without a guide and would have had just as good a time. Apart from a small number of places where we were welcomed by the owners who talked to us about their businesses and showcased what they had to offer, most shops were just random visits without any pre-arranged presentations. Having done other food tours in Australia and overseas, we were left with the impression that, with more preparation and more dynamic delivery, the tour would have represented much better value for money. Overall, it was disappointing and definitely not value for money.