Tasting Australia’s 2026 Line-Up Is Its Boldest Yet

Tasting Australia has a history of pushing boundaries. What other festival would charter planes and trains as part of its regular programming? But with a refreshed creative team, the 2026 line-up is shaking things up yet again with more than 150 events.

In December, the team served up an amuse-bouche. It announced that this year’s Tasting Australia Airlines event would travel to the Eyre Peninsula, with a flight to Port Lincoln for a sashimi tasting aboard a tuna poling boat, a beachside lunch from Byron Bay chef Ben Devlin of Pipit and Jimmy Toone of Fall From Grace, and an afternoon at Yarnbala with Mindy Woods. The rail component will be a four-day trip on the Ghan with meals cooked by Spanish chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, plus local chefs Mark Best, Jo Barrett and Shannon Fleming. The newly introduced Tasting Australia by Road offers daylong road trips to the Adelaide Hills, Barossa, Fleurieu Peninsula and McLaren Vale. 

Yesterday, Broadsheet announced the Club Series, a series of chef takeovers inspired by our Welcome to the Club column, where chefs like Tom Campbell, Laura Sharrad, Darren Robertson, Matt Stone, Ozge Kalvo, Callum Hann and more, will cook alongside volunteers at five Adelaide cultural clubs.

This morning the full program was announced.

International talent coming in for the festival includes top somm André Hueston Mack; chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, of Michelin-starred restaurant Sabor, will headline the team aboard the Ghan; Martin Kjäll, of Stockholm’s Restaurant AG, will cook with Arkhe’s Jake Kellie; and the team from Hong Kong’s Bar Leone, which was named the top bar globally by World’s 50 Best last year, will take over Honeydripper.

In an Australian exclusive, offbeat chef collective Punk Royale will host two CBD events, including the festival’s high-octane closing night party.

Town Square will have a new look with Good Neighbour replacing the Dining Galleries. Inspired by a neighbourhood wine bar with long communal tables, the new set-up will bring chefs into the room with guests and bring diners closer to the action. The venue will host a takeover from festival curator Kane Pollard and chef Sarah Glover; an Asian feast from chefs Cheong Liew and Jason Roberts; a takeover from Victorian destination diner O My; a pairing of The Little Rickshaw’s Trinh Richards and Victor Liong of Lee Ho Fook; and a Mother’s Day lunch from Simone Watts, Shmochi’s Quang Nguyen and La Louisiane’s Alexis Besseau.

Other program highlights include a takeover of Mr Hotpoter, an overnight event at Monarto Safari Resort, plus Poh’s Table, a long lunch hosted by Adelaide’s own Poh Ling Yeow.

The full program is available online and tickets to all events are available now.

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