Ministry - Kitchen & Bar

Ministry - Kitchen & Bar is an Italian-leaning restaurant, cafe and bar on the Nepean Highway in Bonbeach, about 200 metres from the sand, with a relaxed outdoor and semi-outdoor dining area that welcomes dogs. It is the pick when you want a proper meal rather than just a coffee either side of a beach walk.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the outdoor and semi-outdoor covered seating, leashed and off the furniture. Staff have a genuine reputation for accommodating owners: they will bring the payment machine to the table so nobody has to leave a dog unattended to pay inside. Water is available on request; carry a bowl in summer to be safe.

Worth knowing

The chilli crab scramble and calamari get regular mentions, and the kitchen swings Italian-Aussie with porterhouse, gnocchi and lobster alongside cocktails and a serious coffee list. Steak nights and live music on alternating weekends make it a proper night out that a dog can still front up to, thanks to the covered outdoor area. Hours and event nights shift, so check their booking page before planning an evening around it.

Getting there and parking

The address is 502 Nepean Highway, Bonbeach, on the highway strip between Chelsea and Carrum. Street parking runs along the highway and the side streets, so mind the signage for time limits, and Bonbeach station is a short walk for train arrivals.

Close by with the dogs

The off-lead zone at Bonbeach Sports Reserve and the dog pages for Bonbeach Beach cover the sand end of the day, and the off-lead fields at Chelsea Bicentennial Park are one suburb north. Carrum Dog Beach is a few minutes further for a bigger stretch of sand off lead.

More of the area's dog-friendly venues are on the Bonbeach destination page, and the full list is in the VIC cafes index.