The Meeting Pool Café

The Meeting Pool is the cafe and wine bar inside Montsalvat, the historic artists' colony at 7 Hillcrest Avenue in Eltham. You get something most suburbs cannot offer: coffee and pastries in a courtyard among bluestone buildings and gardens that have housed artists for a century, with the dog welcome at the cafe area on a leash.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the cafe and courtyard area on lead, with room to settle beside your table in the garden setting. Indoor access is limited to assistance dogs. Bring a portable bowl rather than counting on one being out. Note that the wider Montsalvat grounds and galleries are a ticketed area, while the cafe itself is open to all comers.

Worth knowing

The daytime cafe runs Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 3pm, on specialty coffee, artisanal pastries and light snacks, with a keep-cup discount if you remember yours. On Friday evenings the same space turns into a wine bar from 4pm to 8pm, pouring local wines and spritzes alongside gourmet toasties, hot seasonal food and cheese grazing boxes. It is walk-in only, and as the cafe sits inside a managed arts venue, hours can shift around events, so check before a special trip.

Getting there and parking

Montsalvat sits about 30 minutes from the Melbourne CBD, with on-site parking a short walk from the cafe door. The Eltham strip is close by for anything else you need.

Close by with the dogs

The Eltham Lower Park fenced oval is minutes away for an off-lead run before a courtyard lunch, and the Diamond Creek Trail is a short drive for a longer walk. For other dog-friendly tables in the suburb, Third Chapter and Second Home are both on the Eltham side of town.

More options are on the VIC dog friendly cafes guide and the Eltham destination page.

Pepsi: Friday's wine bar hours make the nicest end-of-week setup in the north-east, with a cheese box, a spritz and a tired dog flat on the courtyard pavers.