The Australian Open has flipped the script: come for the food, stay for the tennis.

The food lineup just gets bigger and better each year, with exclusive dishes only available for this sun-soaked fortnight. The AO has become a full-blown food festival, putting the best of Melbourne on a global stage and showing off exactly what we’re proud of. The city’s culture, expressed through food. (You can read Gem’s thoughts on that here.)

Get a ground pass and get access to the best venues and menus of the city this January.

Here’s what we ate — and what you absolutely should too.

Season Chicken Service

We ate: Spicy Chicken Sandwich
We drank: Plum & Yuzu Soda

Viet-inspired chicken royalty. Season makes a breathtaking spicy fried chicken sandwich that honestly might change your life. Shatteringly crisp chicken that gives the Colonel a serious run for his money, slicked with spicy mayo and tucked into a soft bun with pickled daikon and kimchi. Stunning. It supercharged us for a full day on the courts.

Pair it with their fries, or go for the zippy papaya salad with nuoc cham dressing if you want something fresher. Don’t skip the house-made soda either — fresh plum, zingy yuzu, perfectly balanced. We love when drinks get just as much care and creativity as the food.

Stalactites x Taverna

We ate: Lamb Filo Cigars with Tzatziki

What happens when two Greek institutions join forces? Magic (in the form of lamb cigars).

A limited-edition AO-only collaboration, these are made for eating on the move. Crisp fried filo pastry stuffed with spiced, six-hour slow-cooked lamb that’s fall-apart tender, dotted with currants. Tzatziki essential. Elite “walk and talk” food as you hunt for your next feed.

Ho Jiak

We ate: King Prawn Toast

It’s as good as the internet says it is. Junda Khoo has delivered a smash hit with this prawn toast — the crunchiest golden shell holding a bouncy prawn filling, and right in the centre, a molten salted duck egg that takes things fully into the stratosphere.

We loved the fresh cucumber and lettuce served alongside, a smart palate reset between mouthfuls that lets you experience that first-bite joy all over again.

Suupaa

We drank: Oat Matcha

We beat the heat with a mid-arvo recharge from Suupaa, bringing Japanese convenience-store goodness to the AO. This is an “express” matcha (yes, on tap), but it still delivers — gently sweet, smooth, and crucially, not grassy.

Layla

We ate: Turkish Manti with Spiced Yoghurt & Burnt Butter
We drank: Lemongrass, Lime Leaf & Coconut Slushie

Choosing from Shane Delia’s Layla pop-up menu was tough, but the manti was the right call. The Turkish answer to ravioli, these moreish beef-filled dumplings had us fully in shovel-mode.

Restaurant-quality through and through: spiced burnt butter, sujuk, mushroom XO sauce, rich and savoury but still light enough for a hot day. Offset perfectly by a tangy, summery slushie that cooled us right down between matches.

Altos Tequila

We drank: Paloma

We love a cocktail with oomph, and this one pulled through. Enjoy it in the lounge pop-up,  complete with woven cane chairs, palm trees, umbrellas, for a little slice of Mexico mid-Melbourne Park. Fresh grapefruit, smooth but assertive tequila (hello!), topped with soda and finished with a sprig of rosemary. At $20 it’s actually great value for a cocktail by today’s standards. Generous in size, and with a generous pour, it’s a proper sipping drink that’ll keep you hydrated, too.

Peach Melbourne

We ate: Signature Soft Serve

A delightful mainstay of the AO, Peach Melbourne is something we look forward to each year. Vanilla soft serve swirled with fresh peach and dusted in raspberry crumb. Bright, fruity and refreshing, with strong peach flavour that actually tastes like fruit. Light, joyful, and the essence of summer in a cup.

The Australian Open is on until 1 February 2026. Get your tickets here. Find the full food line up here.