The best places to eat and drink on the Mornington Peninsula

A magnet for gourmands and explorers alike, the best way to get to know the Mornington Peninsula is by eating your way through it.

Thanks to a rich history of local farming and fishing, the Mornington Peninsula boasts an abundance of sea and fresh produce. Whatever is in season often dictates the menus of surrounding establishments, which means you can taste the harvest cooked to perfection at esteemed eateries.

Take a backcountry drive along the peninsula and fill up on delights for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here are our picks.

Breakfast/brunch

Commonfolk

Tucked in the depths of Mornington’s industrial pocket, Commonfolk Coffee is the perfect alfresco hipster hangout. The warehouse-cum-café is kitted with fairy-lights, exposed beams and beautifully tattooed staff, ready and waiting to sling you their house-roasted blend. Twenty cents from every coffee helps set up sustainable farms in Uganda, adding a morale boost to your morning brew. Choose a meal from the contemporary menu to accompany it. Heroes include the banoffee-inspired smoothie, breakfast burrito and the customisable poke bowls – all starring produce from the onsite garden.

Merchant & Maker

McCrae favourite Merchant & Maker has been dubbed the best café on the Peninsula three years running. Thanks to an innovative menu and recent interior makeover, modern breakfast classics fly out the door daily. White chocolate and mascarpone mousse pancakes, chipotle braised beans with slow-roasted pork belly, zucchini and chickpea fritters matched with goat’s curd. Pair it with a coffee from sibling roasters Commonfolk and you’ll be ready for a day of beach-hopping.

Merchant and Maker McCrae — Merchant & Maker has been dubbed the best café on the Peninsula three years running

Captains of Rye

Opposite the beach on Rye’s Point Nepean Road, owner Rob Capa describes his café as “Brunswick, but 20 years ago." The graffiti-clad space has a real rustic charm, kitted out with mismatched furniture, pin-up girls plastered to the walls and a hearty menu. Eggs benny is the winner here, as well as their generous-sized house burgers.

Nordie Café

Taste a bit of Scandinavia right in the heart of wine country. Find Nordie among the familiar strip of Red Hill shops with a dark façade and green benches. The menu contains all the classics, as well as some Scandi additions you mightn’t be familiar with, such as smørrebrød, an open rye sandwich, or the Copenhagen hotdog, a locally-made bratwurst with all the embellishments. An adjoining mini-mart stocks local produce and small goods, as well as a selection of HAY furniture.

Nordi Cafe Red Hill — A bit of Scandi style and culture on the Peninsula

Mr. Curtis

The best views in Mount Martha are just par for the course at Mr. Curtis . This tapas bar serves dishes inspired by Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, think falafel poached eggs, saganaki or a spiced chickpea salad. Grab a table on the wraparound deck and watch breakfast blur into lunch, and lunch into dinner. Local cakes and pastries are usual fare here, as well as favourites Commonfolk coffee and daily specials.

Lunch

Rare Hare

If you’re planning a trip to the Mornington Peninsula, Jackalope undeniably needs to be a part of your itinerary – if not to stay, then to eat and appreciate. The hotel’s more casual bistro, Rare Hare , offers a great place to sit and enjoy a long lunch. Enjoy duck leg, barramundi wings and wood roasted zucchini – or if you’ve overindulged at breakfast, this is the spot for a lighter offering such as a charcuterie plate and a glass of wine. Just beware, spaces fill quickly (even on weekdays) so book your table yesterday.

Polperro

Polperro comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from an upscale Peninsula winery. Premium pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris are served by the glass and bottle, surrounded by a colourful kitchen garden and sundrenched deck. Enjoy a long lunch in summer with duck confit, arancini and stracciatella, then kick on with drinks and tunes into the early evening.

Paringa

Two hatted Paringa Estate is one of the most celebrated food and wine destinations in the Peninsula. A plush interior and slick Corbusian façade provide the perfect backdrop for a midday sojourn. Outside, the undulating vineyard slopes are only one-upped by the field of roaming Toulouse geese. The tasting menu rotates seasonally, utilising local produce every step of the way. Beef sourced from Gippsland, pork from the Western Plains of Victoria and seafood from the local coast. Wash it down with a glass of one of three series wines.

The Epicurean

Housed in a former historic cool store and packing shed, Red Hill’s Epicurean is a restaurant and event haven in the hinterland. The Shed is the onsite restaurant, serving wood-fired pizzas to the masses alongside plant-based mains, salads, cheese boards and classic sides. As well as food, the venue also has space for a bar and a selection of local wines for mini-tasting sessions.

Red Hill Epicurean — Red Hill’s Epicurean is a restaurant and event haven in the hinterland

Ten Minutes By Tractor

Stop for a no-brainer lunch at the breezy two-hatted Ten Minutes By Tractor. The eponymous restaurant with almost-too-beautiful-to-eat dishes overlooks the vines, where you can chat with winemakers who are changing up their practices and moving towards full organic cultivation. A new cellar door recently opened if you want to sample a few but haven’t got time for a meal – the winery was impacted by fire a while back and the reinvigorated cellar door experience is impressive. The name, by the way, refers to their vineyards, which are all just 10 minutes from each other by tractor. Clever, hey!

Dinner

Doot Doot Doot

We weren’t kidding – Jackalope is a must when you come to the Peninsula. Neighbouring the aforementioned Rare Hare, Doot Doot Doot is executive chef Guy Stanaway’s one-hatted fine-dining restaurant. On offer is a five-course tasting menu that makes the most of the plentiful produce from local providores on the peninsula. The space is aesthetic and warm, mostly thanks to Jan Flook’s ceiling light installation of 10,000 amber globes that dim and brighten with a shimmering effect.

Fish Fetish

As the day reaches its pointy end, head straight for Fish Fetish on Sorrento’s main Ocean Beach Road. This humble joint has been around forever which explains the lines that form out the door on most given afternoons. Pick your poison off the blackboard menu hung above the hard-working staff. Non-soggy chips, a decent bit of fish, maybe a dim sim or calamari to mix it up, a wedge of lemon, some salt, brown or white vinegar, some tomato sauce and that’s it. Head straight to any stretch of Peninsula sand and enjoy. PS: don’t feed the seagulls.

The Portsea Pub

Heralded as the wealthiest postcode in Australia, Portsea is the last town on the Mornington Peninsula. The luxurious little village is a sanctuary by the sea, and its pub is the heart and soul of the region. A recent upgrade to the venue and adjoining hotel was more than a lick of paint, adding a rotating art gallery, panoramic beer garden on the water’s edge and a few bars. Cliff’s Bar is a California-inspired burger bar with all the trimmings. Neighbouring RIP Bar will serve whisky to lure guests in the cooler months, and the second-floor Bertram Bar has panoramic ocean views.

DOC Mornington

Come for the top-notch pizza, stay for the charming service. DOC Mornington serves as the sister outfit to Carlton’s celebrated venture, featuring an adjoining Italian supermarket. You’ll find mozzarella and salumi of honourable provenance plus a great Italian-leaning wine list to back it all up. Simplicity and tradition are key here, so don’t expect complicated toppings. The San Daniele with DOP buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto is a signature, while the Pizza ai Porcini with wild mushrooms, mozzarella, pecorino and truffle oil is more than seductive.

DOC pizza Mornington — Your Peninsula plans should definitely involve pizza

The charm of Mildura is hidden in plain sight along the Sturt Highway. The capital of Tropical North Victoria is in a league of its own.

From the moment you arrive in Mildura , the warm air and palm trees invite you to slow down. While most Australians might drive right past it, Mildura is full of surprises. Here you’ll spend one day witnessing over 50,000 years of First Nations history in a UNESCO-listed National Park, and the next dining in a hatted restaurant after wandering through 12,500 fireflies as the outback sunset bursts to life above. From roadside fruit stalls and family-run wineries to houseboats and galleries, it’s time to explore Mildura.

Feast Street, at the heart of Langtree Avenue in Mildura. — Taste, wander and be surprised in Mildura.

Taste Mildura’s produce

It makes sense to start your trip by addressing the most important question: where to eat. In the beating heart of Australia’s food bowl, sample the local produce directly from the source. And then, of course, experience it through the menu of a hatted chef. Or sandwiched between pillowy slices of Nonna’s ciabatta.

Rows of orchards and olive groves invite you to spend the day traipsing from farm to farm. Taste olives propagated from Calabrian trees brought over in the 40s, oranges picked right from the tree and squeezed into juice and spoons full of honey . Bring the holiday back to your kitchen by stocking your pantry at roadside produce stalls, or calling into the ‘silver shed ’ (Sunraysia’s gourmand Mecca).

Thanks to the warm, balmy air and fertile soils, the wineries dotted along these hills produce award-winning local wines. Like Chalmers , a family-run, innovative winery dedicated to making their wines as sustainable as possible. And picturesque Trentham Estate offers views of the snaking Murray River as you sample their vintages.

Venture beyond the gnarled shadows of olive groves and fragrant rows of blossoming fruit trees and you’ll find an otherworldly side to Mildura. With Discover Mildura as your guide, visit Murray River Salt’s Mars-like stacks. The naturally pink salt is formed from an ancient inland sea and evaporated entirely by the sun to create one of the region’s most iconic exports.

Start your day with just-squeezed sunshine.

Hatted dining & Italian history

Mildura is home to a proud community of Calabrians and Sicilians. This, paired with the exceptional local produce, means that you can find paninos on par with those in Italy. The Italian is a Paninoteca serving up made-to-order, hefty, authentic Sicilian paninos. Nonna Rosa’s pork meatballs, slowly cooked in tomato ragu and served in a crusty, fluffy roll topped with gratings of Grana Padano cheese and salsa verde, will call you back to Mildura for the rest of your days.

To find hatted dining in Mildura, simply follow the staircase down into the basement of the historic Mildura Grand Hotel to find Stefano’s . Following the muscle memory and instinct of his Italian roots, he delivers on the principle of ‘cucina povera’. That is, the Italian cooking ideology that turns simple, local ingredients into magic.

Things to do in Mildura include dining at the acclaimed Stefano’s, where simple local ingredients are transformed into Italian culinary magic beneath the historic Grand Hotel. — Bite into Mildura’s Italian heritage.

Discover a thriving culture scene

The city is alive with culture. Whether it’s painted on the town’s walls, told in ancient yarns, or waiting for you in a gallery.

The Mildura Arts Centre was Australia’s first regional art gallery. Behind the walls of Rio Vista Historic House, you’ll find a lineup of ever-changing exhibitions. The gallery’s wall space pays tribute to the art and songlines of local First Nations People, the region’s awe-inspiring landscapes and more. Outside, on the gallery’s lawn, find 12 contemporary sculptures in the Sculpture Park.

Mildura’s streetscapes are a punch of colour. Swirling strokes of paint blend the winding artery of the Murray River, red dirt and local characters into a story you can see with your own eyes, thanks to the Mildura City Heart’s Mural Art Project . Pick up a copy of the Murals of Mildura guide from the Visitor Information Centre.

Follow the border of NSW and Victoria on a map and you’ll see it hugs the curves of a tiny island on the Murray. That’s Lock Island, where, as the sun and moon trade places, the island comes alive as darkness falls. The island is dotted with 12,500 firefly lights that lead you on a meandering path through the outback sunset. The installation is known as Trail of Lights and was created by the same visionary who dreamt up Field of Light at Uluṟu, Bruce Munro.

Things to do in Mildura include exploring its rich cultural scene. From vibrant street art and ancient stories to exhibitions at the Mildura Arts Centre, Australia’s first regional gallery. — Find culture around every corner.

Wonder at ancient landscapes

The landscapes of Mildura feel almost transcendental. The skyline bursts to life with reds, pinks, and deep, sparkly night skies.

The nature will leave you in awe. See hues of pink water changing with the weather at Pink Lakes inside Victoria’s largest national park, Murray Sunset National Oark. Cast a line into Ouyen Lake. Watch the sunset against 70-metre tall red cliffs that reflect the setting sun. Or get the heart racing and sandboard down the Perry Sandhills dunes, formed 40,000 years ago at the end of an ice age.

Just don’t leave without following the twists and turns of the Murray. Stroll or ride along the Shared River Front Path, or jump onboard a boat for a scenic ride.

Your itinerary will be incomplete without a visit to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Mungo National Park . Head out with an Indigenous ranger to witness ancient campsites and footprints, before standing in awe of ancient civilisation near the discovery site of Mungo Man—Australia’s oldest human skeleton at 42,000 years old.

Mungo National Park at night is a vast, silent landscape where ancient dunes glow under moonlight and stars blanket the sky in breathtaking clarity. — Walk in the footsteps of ancient civilisation.

Meet your home away from home

On equal par with planning your meals and adventures, is finding the perfect place to relax at the end of each day.

Sleep inside a Palm Springs postcard at Kar-Rama . A sleek boutique hotel complete with a butterfly shaped, sun-soaked pool. Here you’re staying right in the heart of Mildura but you’ll feel worlds away. Or if you really wish to connect with nature, a night glamping under the stars at Outback Almonds will have you spellbound.

When in Mildura it’s only right to stay on one of the Murray River’s iconic houseboats . Wake up each day to the calm waters of the Murray lapping outside your window. Enjoy days full of river swims, fishing and exploring. All boats are solar-powered and can be self-skippered or moored along the river.

A solar-powered houseboat on the Murray River in Mildura. — Stay and play on the Murray in a solar houseboat.

Start planning the perfect getaway at mildura.com .