Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is bringing the city’s energy to the table for 2026 with the unveiling of bold new year menus, featuring premium cocktails on tap, a first for any convention centre in Australia. The new 2026 menus focus on more than traditional catering and guests can expect interactive food moments, as well as premium local partnerships.
Executive sous chef of culinary development, Karl Edmonds said: “We want to celebrate the city around us. Melbourne isn’t passive. It’s active, fast, social. Everything we’re doing with the 2026 menus leans into that. The suppliers, the stations, the flavours. It all points back to Victoria.”
The menus now include bubble tea bars, gelato scooped to order, and Hawker Lane Singapore noodles – all designed to create guest interaction throughout the venue. Customers can expect familiar flavours, elevated with native ingredients and modern technique and dietary requirements like vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free are incorporated within the menu design, rather than as a side option.
“We’re also looking at how people interact with our food and how they move around the space,” Edmonds added. One of the biggest menu shifts is cocktails on tap.
In collaboration with Straight up Cocktails and Campari, guests can enjoy delicious Aperol Spritz, Spicy Margharita or Blood Orange Americano cocktails consistently poured, even at the largest events. Sher Wagyu and Lard Ass Dairy are just some of the artisan producers highlighted throughout the menu, and beverages feature the best of Victorian wines and beers.
Head of food and beverage, Paul Kanaan said described the new menu as “creative, surprising, Melbourne to the core. It’s the kind of product that makes people lean in and ask, who makes this?” Get a taste of what’s in store at MCEC here.