14 Seaside Robe Restaurants To Dine At Now

Whether you’re after something casual, classic or cool, we’ve got the ultimate Robe restaurants list to keep you munching from breakfast to nightcap.

Super-fresh lobsters by the sea, a classic pub lunch in front of a roaring fire, or casual Mexican in a beer garden? Sure, you could spend hours frantically looking up Robe restaurants in a bid to find the finest place to eat in this picturesque seaside town, or you could take a look at our ultimate dining guide and make a booking pronto.

1. Caledonian Inn

a seafood platter with sea views at Caledonian Inn — The Caledonian Inn is a historic English-style pub by the sea with a lively atmosphere. (Image: Mark Fitzpatrick)

Will it be a cosy fireside steak and a glass of red, or fish and chips and a light ale in the sun-dappled beer garden? At the Caledonian Inn , a historic English-style pub much loved for its hugely popular roast nights (every Wednesday night), the correct answer is ‘why not both?’. Whether you’re after burgers at lunch or something more decadent for dinner, such as their signature schnitty and a platter of oysters, Caledonian Inn has a table for every occasion with live music nights and a solid kids’ menu to boot.

Address: 1 Victoria Street, Robe

2. Mahalia Coffee House

You can smell the freshly roasted beans of Mahalia Coffee House long before you pull up outside, an invitation for the ages. Located in Robe’s industrial heartland, a (very) short drive away from the main strip, this is the place to drop in to consume your body weight in coffee, buy bags of beans, coffee-making accessories, even a new coffee machine or settle in for one of the most decadent breakfasts going on the Limestone Coast. Fancy southern rock lobster on Turkish or blueberry waffles? Treat yourself – the folks don’t charge for that extra shot either.

Address: 2 Flint Street, Robe

3. Drift Cafe

the cafe exterior of Drift Cafe, Robe — Drift Cafe creates a warm and inviting dining space with its coastal calm aesthetic. (Image: South Australian Tourism Commission)

Get in early to nab a place at Drift Cafe , an architecturally designed coastal space teeming with folks keen to get their hands on the cafe’s signature Mexican street corn fritters.

Bring your laptop and – provided you don’t have to hold any Zoom meetings over the playlist featuring the likes of Nirvana and Radiohead – get a little work done, relax over a halloumi burger on the deck, or enjoy a picnic on the lawn. Here, it’s your breakfast or lunch experience, your way.

Address: 3 Victoria Street, Robe

4. Sails at Robe

When you’re looking for something a little more upscale, it’s hard to go past Sails at Robe , a fine dining establishment celebrated for serving some of the freshest seafood on the Limestone Coast. Don’t let the ‘fine dining’ label put you off – Sails at Robe leans towards casual contemporary, whether you’re after an intimate dinner for two in its wine bar, or a seafood platter under the sun with a group of friends. Make sure to order the lobster thermidor, squid ink risotto and Peruvian-style ceviche. There’s a beverage list for every menu, and a little something for the kids, too.

Address: 2 Victoria Street, Robe

5. Robe Town Brewery

clinking two glasses of beer at Robe Town Brewery — The 20-plus range of brews range from light sours to thick stouts.

Welcome to the only wood-fired brewery in the country, a space where old-school, low-tech methods are utilised to make a vast range of beer, with at least 20 styles of brew – ranging from light sours to thick stouts – are on offer at any one time. Featuring a tap and a cellar door for tasting and takeaway, be sure to stop by Robe Town Brewery on live music nights (Friday) or Open Mic Days (the second Sunday of each month) when the venue is particularly pumping. While snacks and occasionally, the Loose Menu Food Truck, are available, BYO food is not only welcomed but encouraged.

Address: 10 White Street, Robe

6. The Cutter Lapwing

You have to admit that it’s hard to go past a quaint stone cottage with a white picket fence, particularly when the wind is biting and the fire is roaring inside. Happily, The Cutter Lapwing might have that cool weather ambience in spades, but the family-owned espresso bar also backs up the aesthetics with a menu that runs the gamut from cakes and hot sticky buns (a popular choice with both locals and visitors) to healthy lunch. Nab an outdoor table in the sun if you can.

Address: 46 Victoria Street, Robe

7. Robe Ice Cream

two children running at the entrance of Robe Ice Cream — Robe Ice Cream churns out a delicious range of homemade premium gelato. (Image: South Australian Tourism Commission/Adam Bruzzone)

It’s hard to miss the signage to this ice creamery – or the kids screaming with excitement the minute they clock it. Either way, why resist the urge to revisit your childhood? Robe Ice Cream isn’t just any old ice creamery, but makers of homemade premium gelato, serving up their sweet treats in a pet-friendly tropical oasis garden.

Can’t decide between cookies and cream, bubble gum or any of your other classic flavours? You could always opt for a milkshake, doughnuts or go crazy digging through their vast range of confectionery.

Address: 35 Victoria Street, Robe

8. The Pastry Place

What’s a picturesque coastal town without a key bakery keeping the locals rolling in homemade gourmet pies, sausage rolls and pasties? The Pastry Place is the place to pop by for the basics (croissants to enjoy alongside your Sunday morning coffee, a pie to devour while you take a scenic drive), but don’t make the mistake of believing it’s like any other – unless of course, you’re convinced everyone else is baking the likes of crayfish croissants. Do yourself a favour and say yes to a sweet treat too; The Pastry Place is just as celebrated for its cakes.

Address: 6 Union Street, Robe

9. Union Cafe

Why settle for a piece of toast when you can head to Union Cafe and order something a little more decadent, such as a herb-crumbed eggplant harissa yoghurt, fried kale, asparagus, avocado with poached egg, or perhaps those buttermilk pancakes? This light-filled cafe is the place to be at breakfast or at lunch, just get your running shoes on any time the soup specials are announced – these crowd-pleasers are guaranteed to run out the door. Should you stay for the coffee and cake? Definitely. Both rank among the best in town.

Address: Shop 4, 17–19 Victoria Street, Robe

10. Hook and Harvest

There’s nothing like beachside living (even for just a few days) to make you question whether it’s time to live your healthiest life – or perhaps just step away from the cafes and pies for a little while. Hook and Harvest will help you achieve your goal, offering a solid range of protein shakes, refreshing acai bowls, salads and green juices as well as all that metabolism-burning coffee. For those keen to go the distance, you might even be swayed to join their run club.

Address: 21 Victoria Street, Robe

11. The Dock at Sky Seafoods

There’s eating seafood, and then there’s becoming personally invested in where your fresh seafood comes from. At The Dock at Sky Seafoods , the focus is firmly on the latter, the team offering regular factory tours of their lobster facility, and encouraging diners to select their own specimens from tanks to be cooked on premises for that perfect seafood platter onsite, or a takeaway meal. It isn’t ALL about seafood, of course; diners can also enjoy local wines and beers on tap, or shop for a range of locally made relishes and sauces to take home.

Address: 58 Robe Street, Robe

12. West Beach Cantina

Take a seat among the towering cacti surrounding West Beach Cantina’s beer garden and transport yourself to a Mexican getaway where the margaritas are iced and the burrito bowls plentiful. There’s two things you need to know about a meal at this popular eatery: you’ll need to get in early to nab an outdoor table on a warm, sunny day, and you’ll need to put in your order for the Baja fish as quickly as possible – it’s one of their popular menu items for a reason. Nachos, burritos and fajitas consumed, there’s only one question left to ask: will you leave without buying West Beach Cantina merch? Probably not, but that’s all part of its charm.

Address: 30 – 32 Victoria Street, Robe

13. Robe Hotel

Interior of Robe Hotel — The region’s oldest pub features multiple indoor and outdoor dining spaces. (Image: Kelsey Zafiridis Photography)

Sometimes you just need a charming pub serving all the classics, and the Robe Hotel plays its role perfectly. One of the region’s oldest pubs (it first opened its doors in 1849) and located a stone’s throw from the beach, Robe Hotel achieves the near-impossible task of having something for everyone, even offering bark-cuterie boards for your four-legged dining companions.

The home of towering burgers, premium steaks and a menu teeming with locally farmed produce, they also have local beers and ciders on tap as well as a wine list that features premium vino from around the globe. Kids eat free on Sundays.

Address: 6 Mundy Terrace, Robe

14. Viet 21

a mini bahn mi platter at Viet 21, Robe — Viet 21’s famous bahn mi platter.

Look away from the pasta and schnitzel specials; you’re here for Viet 21’s super-popular banh mi. A recent addition to Robe’s dining landscape, the casual eatery has quickly become the place to go for its authentic pho, vermicelli noodle bowls and rice paper rolls. Dine in or take away, but don’t miss checking out the daily specials (or their winter melon tea if available).

Address: 21A Victoria Street, Robe

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat , now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate , whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor , who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will , who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods . “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield , embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House .

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument , which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds .

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens , hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

14 seaside restaurants in Robe to dine at now