They in turn pretend to just NOT get Sydney. What is it with all this sunny dining, the preoccupation with real estate and renovation? And who says Sydney has the best coffee?

Urban Coffee Farm (photo: Daniel Mahon)

One of the good things about Melbourne – and there are many, despite the fact some northerners refuse to admit most of them – is the city's almost European dedication to food wine, coffee, good bread and cheese. Factor in restaurants, and the hundreds of places you can stop and simply buy a glass of wine or a beer and relax with it at a pavement table.

This is Melbourne's coat of arms. A scroll below the arms reads ‘Vires Acquirit Eundo’ which translates as ‘She gathers strength as she goes’ (a quotation from Vergil's Aeneid) which has proved so true.

It is almost impossible to comprehend how, from a tiny settlement founded on a riverbank in 1835, Melbourne has grown so quickly and so impressively over a relatively short time.

To get the idea - watch this VIDEO...

For just over a fortnight each year, starting soon, at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, Melbourne gets a chance to show off the considerable talents of its chefs and restaurateurs, showcase its fine produce and exceptional wines, and generally have a party. Best of all, we're all invited! 

More of that in a moment – but what happens for the other fifty weeks?  Plenty!

Some call them precincts, some say villages. Whatever they are, Melbourne has a place for everyone.

Wanting a typically European cafe bar? Look to the laneways in the CBD. Need some retail therapy with your ristretto? Chapel Street and Toorak Road are ideal. Feeling playful? Take your roller blades to St Kilda, and choose your ethnic cuisine.

Late last year we were wandering with our Melbourne map, a little lost and caffeine-needy, when we bumped into exaclty the right person to direct us. Monique Bayer is the owner of Walk Melbourne Tours and author of Devouring Melbourne: uncovering a delicious city. Join her here on a coffee tour.

She escorted us to one of her favourite cafes in a lane we had never head of and introduced us to a bread we had never heard of: fugazza.

Fugazza is the realisation of a dream for owner Simon Michelangeli. He fell in love with traditional Italian baked sandwiches and espresso coffee when he first visited his ancestral home of Lucignana, Tuscany as a 12-year-old.

These light, tasty focaccias took on a somewhat mythical element. He could never find their equal at home in Melbourne, so twenty years later he solved that problem by launching his own café.

Italian focaccia-style bread originated in ancient Rome and has morphed into countless styles, good and bad. The Ligurian region is arguably the home of modern focaccia, where it has traditionally been referred to as fugassa or fugazza.

I was delighted to see that Simon's fugazza is based on a recipe from a focacciaria in Lucca, Tuscany, and light years away from the fluffy, tasteless foccaccie we see in sandwich shops everywhere.

But queen of it all is the one-of-a-kind Queen Victoria Market, just north of the CBD. Take a day to see it all, do a cooking class, take a guided tour of it. Buy cheese or cheesecloth, fishnet stockings or fish; sunflower seeds or sunnies. The only thing NOT to do, is miss it.

Not everything in Melbourne is about food or coffee! Other laneways offer room for 'artistic expression' which is enthusiastically embraced.

Or maybe you just want to slip into something a little more comfortable. Like a Spanish theme, with tapas and a soundtrack of flamenco music. Try Fitzroy. Brunswick's Sydney Road takes you to Turkey; Richmond lets you bargain shop after yum cha. Refurbished Port Melbourne is retro and trendy all at once, and the aromas of espresso and Italian sausages in Carlton makes you wonder why you didn't go there first.

Artisan Market (photo: Daniel Mahon)

And now the moment you have been waiting for! Coming up very soon – from February 28 to March 16 to be exact – Melbourne is throwing one long party.

This 17-day extravaganza caters to every sense. The organizers say that they have planned it to 'nourish, inspire, entertain and educate' but many think it will do even more. Reading the menu of planned activities is guaranteed to throw most mortals into a case of mental indigestion, so before you go, plan to spend a quiet hour or so at the digital edition of the program and get your mouth watering.

Chef Magnus Nilsson (photo: Daniel Mahon)

It's all here - dinners whipped up by a gaggle of local and imported top chefs, demonstrations for those who like to watch, and workshops for those who, well, like to work.  There is wine blending if you fancy yourself as a bit of an oenologist, and tutored tastings to help you bluff your way through the next few dinner parties you either attend or throw. 

Artisan Market (photo: Daniel Mahon)

Mini budding chefs can create their very own piece of Melbourne and Victoria’s delicious culinary culture with hands-on workshops over the opening weekend. Drop by Queensbridge Square to rustle up three mouth-watering favourites from Greece, Japan and Vietnam.

Ben Shewry at Earth Masterclass (photo: Daniel Mahon)

The festival always includes a wide range of Masterclasses dealing with virtually anything to do with eating or drinking. Cookery techniques, gin and martinis, wine and food matching, the cuisine of Spain and much more are all on the menu this year. 

World's Longest Lunch (photo: Daniel Mahon)

The World’s Longest Lunch takes place on  February 28th on the riverbank at Alexandra Park. If you miss out on a ticket – and you might, as it's always a sellout – don't despair. The city is not the only place with taste. There are regional World’s Longest Lunch at many locations throughout Victoria celebrating regional produce, local wine and unique venues on March 14. If you could count all the people across Victoria dining that day at various venues, you could say it's actually Australia's longest lunch – by a country mile.

At night the city and suburbs show another face. From Southbank's riverside eateries to NewQuay at Docklands; from Chinatown to Victoria Street's Vietnamese enclave, the choice is enormous. You can hole up in a tiny laneway pasta bar, or check out streetside dining in Nelson Street, Williamstown for dinner with a side serve of the glittering Melbourne skyline. There will be celebrations, degustations and special menus and deals almost everywhere.

OK, Melbourne, have your party. You deserve it!