Your last-minute guide to grand final pub meals, drinks, snacks and more

Fences painted with team colours and flags hung in windows are common sights during grand final week in Melbourne, but food has also been touched by finals fever ahead of tonight's showdown between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Demons.

Gourmet hot dogs have been spotted from Torquay to Red Hill, cupcakes and doughnuts have appeared in varying shades of red and blue, and chefs are deviating from their usual fare to offer fancy spins on Chiko rolls and meat pies.

Avondale Heights' Cannoli Bar, which specialises in the ricotta-filled Italian pastries of the same name, went to new heights for footy fans by baking pastry shells in Bulldogs and Demons colours and stamping the top of each treat with a print mimicking football laces. They'd sold 230 (142 Bulldogs and 88 Demons) by Friday morning.

The Great Northern Hotel in Carlton North is usually a footy fan's delight on grand final day, with 11 screens showing the game, a sheltered beer garden and around 400 fans cheering on their team.

"I think it's really hitting people hard this year," says venue manager Sean Fawsitt of the pub's closure for a second grand final in a row.

Replicating that game day atmosphere at home is a tall order, but Fawsitt and his team are giving it their best with the pub's Footy Feast. Fans can declare their allegiance by choosing a hot dogs menu or spicy Demons pack with habanero-heavy chicken wings or nachos. Each pack also includes two parmigianas.

"Chicken parmigiana seems to be the national dish of footy fans," says Fawsitt, who was born in Ireland. Punters who pick up dinner with their pooch in tow will receive home-made dog treats, too.

Meanwhile, East End, the Hawthorn East wine bar owned by Demons' captain Max Gawn, is putting on pre-game panzerotti – fried pizza pockets similar to calzone – named after Gawn and teammates Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.

The Trac includes pepperoni and mozzarella while Oliver has been honoured with a parma-flavoured panzerotti called Straight Outta 'Chuca (Echuca). Gawn's pastry, The Simple Man, features mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Last-minute grand final food and drink

Pub grub – south and east

Order steak sandwiches, onion rings, buffalo wings and chicken parmigianas, plus beer from the tap, from The Palace Hotel (South Melbourne) between 5pm and 9pm. Local delivery offered.

Hot dogs, pies and steak sangas get a Latin American spin at Asado (Southbank). Enjoy beef and chorizo empanadas, chorizo rolls with chimichurri and fried potatoes with smoky salsa. Available 11am-9pm.

The Grosvenor Hotel (St Kilda East) has also teamed up with neighbours Burger Circus to create a "hangover bag" for Sunday: a cheeseburger, Berocca, Coke and potato gems are part of the cure. Sunday 5pm-9pm.

Pub grub – north and west

The Empress (Fitzroy North) has buckets of wings, chicken parmas, steaks, kids' meals and growlers of beer available for pick-up or delivery within three kilometres. Available 5pm-7.30pm.

Footy Feasts from The Great Northern (Carlton North) include parmas, two litres of beer and your choice of Bulldogs-themed hot dogs or hot wings, or Demons-inspired spicy nachos or spicy wings. Pub meals and growler refills also available. Pick-up 3pm-8.30pm.

Charles & Gamon (Seddon) has snack boxes purpose-built for barracking: house-made sausage rolls, chicken wings, pork belly rolls and mini jam doughnuts. Swing past from noon to collect.

Pre-game snacks

Mount Erica Hotel (Prahran) is cooking up pork sausages and onions to go in Cobb Lane bakery buns plus steak sandwiches, pints and growlers of beer, margaritas and other cocktails. From noon.

Chef-owned outfit Wonder Pies is crossing town from Bulleen to South Yarra for a morning bake stall at A25 Pizza. Come from 8am for party pies, sausage rolls, family-size pies, doughnuts and other sweets.

Drinks

Need beer? Make tracks for Bar Josephine (Footscray), which is opening especially for fans in the west who are keen to try something from the boozer's 12 beer taps. 1pm-5pm.

Thanks to the Pub in a Box from Moon Dog (Preston), beer fans can enjoy a bar's worth of craft choices with 12 lagers, ales, stouts and other styles in the pack alongside a bonus beer mat and glasses. Preston only, noon-6pm.

Beer Mash (Collingwood), an old hand at the tap-beer-for-home game, will fill squealers and growlers from eight taps and carries a wide selection of craft cans and bottles. Noon-8pm.