Queen Victoria Market’s annual winter night market is back!
Luna1878 Night Market is a midweek celebration of winter that is happening every Wednesday night until 27 August. Before you groan about leaving your warm house to venture out on a freezing school night, just note two things:
1. The market is actually much warmer than you might expect. I think it must be because of the roof, the number of cooking fires and bright lights. I didn’t notice any outdoor heaters about but I didn’t feel the cold at all.
2. There is mulled wine!
Under the sheds of Queen Vic you’ll find a large range of street food to sample, interspersed amongst diverse stalls of local designers and craftspeople. I was invited to try out what was on offer at the market and I was pleasantly surprised by the broad range of food and entertainment on offer. The set up was a lot more spacious than my previous visit to the summer night markets and there was enough seating for quick bites in between strolling.
I think the food is the reason to get most excited about Luna1878 Night Market. You can choose to eat the world with Filipino coal-roasted meats, soups in a cob loaf to steaming pans of paella. Some of it was ok, other dishes were fantastic and most of it was priced around the $7 mark with nothing more than $15.
My recommendations go to the Xinjiang spicy lamb skewers, the grilled cevapi from the cevapi cart and the baby octopus from the Sicilian barbecue.
For dessert there were a few options – crepes, creme brulee, waffles or cannoli from a guy who had a cannoli for a head (kidding! just caught him at the right angle).
I think there could be more dessert options as the line for all of these stalls was pretty long and in the end we settled for a chilli and spice hot chocolate from Market Espresso. Unfortunately this was probably the worst thing we tried on the night, with badly burnt milk combined with a syrupy spice mix. We dumped half of it in the bin.
Perhaps my pro tip is to just swim against the crowd and eat dessert first and savouries later!
The lively vibe in the market was enhanced by the free entertainment, including musicians, street performers and comedians. I actually found the cooking just as much fun to watch as crews hacked into a whole pig at the and a primary school kid deftly flipped pizza dough at 400 Gradi.
If you’re planning a trip to Luna1878 Night Market then mark next Wednesday 23 July in your diary as on that night only Kit Webster will be presenting his amazing multimedia installation called Enigmatic.
Luna1878 Night Market, Queen Victoria Market, cnr Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Every Wednesday 9 July – 27 August 5-10pm
Free entry
Giveaway! Thanks to Queen Victoria Market I have 3 x $30 food/drink vouchers for Luna1878 Night Market to give away. To win just follow the instructions and the three winners will be chosen randomly. Entries close Monday 28 July midnight. Good luck!
Just let me loose in the sweets section and I will just work my way around all of them
Luna1878 Night Market here I come !!!!!
Hopefully
Would really like to try the soup in bread you described
the soup looks great
I’m not really tempted by any of these foods, but hopefully there’s plenty more to make it worth leaving home in the freezing winter for. Mulled wine might do it…
crispy pigs ears and roast pig head yums!
I can never go past a good creme brulee, so I’ll be heading there first to get my sugar hit before hitting up Wonderbao and maybe Mamak before washing down all that food with some gluhwein!
Loved this night market in the summer, can’t wait to try the mulled wine now!
There are fire pots all around for keeping cosy in between cups of mulled wine
Also the napalese bbq was yum! Pork belly and salad suprisingly satifying on a chilly night.
Pancakes!
Xinjiang spicy lamb skewers, I ate it many times. That’s awesome!!
I love the paella!
Most excited about the 400 gradi pizza…I haven’t tried it yet and have heard so many good things!
Looking forward to the creme brulee, crepes and whole pig!!!
Baby octopus, baby.
Wonderbao is wunderbar!
Paella for me
Mulled wine! (What can I say, I’m a lush.)
i cant wait to eat all the yummy food! great night out
All the food!
I have a sweet tooth and am a sucker for desserts. I’ll enjoy all of them, irrespective of which culture they come from!
Great to hear that it is warm. I always get turned off the summer market when it is too hot and crowded but they might be useful for the body heat
Also, I am a sucker for gozleme- it wouldn’t be a Melbourne market without it.
pleaseeee I need to try everything…..and wash it down with mulled wine of course!!!
Crepes! How divine!
I just want to try everything!
Hi There,
good to see your review of the Luna nite market at QVM this year. Sorry to read that you were disappointed in the dessert options & that you didn’t find us there. If you come again, please get in touch beforehand so we can arrange for you to sample some of our deluxe dark chocolate Fudge or hand made chocolates
Kylie
Love that they translated the idea of the summer market into a winter version.
Can’t wait to get there! So excited to try something from every stall haha!
I’ll start at one end and work my way through!
Sounds like a delish night out!
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I want to try
All the dishes you did too
Can’t wait to check it out!
I’ve always wanted to try paella!
Summer.. Winter.. Ahhh Melbourne Night Markets!
I really would like to eat the Feijoada of the Brazilians that have there at the Luna1878 Night Market.