Hundreds of people flocked to The Courier's Good Food Ballarat Family Hawkers Market at the Mining Exchange from 5pm.

Crowds swelled outside the Lydiard Street venue, with people queued from as far as Mair Street to get inside.

Japanese, Mexican, Asian and Italian cuisines were served by about 15 Ballarat food providers.

Freight Bar, Fu Man Lou, The Forge, Mitchell Harris Wine Bar, Le Peche Gourmand, Ballarat Specialist School, Eclectic Tastes, Chat for Tea, Grounded Pleasures, The George Hotel, Ballarat Steakhouse, Ashai, O'Brien Beer, Rebellion Brewery, Kittelty's and Sovereign Hill each had a stall.

Queues quickly formed around dumpling house Fu Man Lou and Freight Bar early in the evening.

The Forge Pizzeria and Ballarat Steakhouse drew crowds to the outside courtyard of the Mining Exchange.

Some stallholders had sold out of menu items about an hour into the evening.

Kittelty's Sara Kittelty said her homemade ice cream had been a favourite.

"Raspberry (ice cream) went quickly, it's been a very good night," she said.

Freight Bar's Daniel Rush predicted a busy night.

"We knew it was going to be nuts," Mr Rush said.

Eclectic Tastes was one of the first stalls to sell out of produce.

"It has been fantastic. It's about time we did something like this in Ballarat," owner Margot Pettit said.

Ballarat resident Janeen Sternberg said she enjoyed the night.

"We came here for the food. Next year they will need a bigger venue," she said.

The Courier's director of publishing and sales, Jade Morrison, thanked the food providers and the community for their support.

"We are overwhelmed by the support of the Ballarat community during the first year of the event," she said.

"We will conduct an analysis of this year's operation to make sure the next is bigger and better."