Pelikan Société

Pelikan Societe sits at 2 Marine Parade in Hastings, in the Pelikan Park complex on the Western Port foreshore, with deck and veranda seating looking over the marina and the mangrove edge. It serves Lavazza coffee and an all-day breakfast and lunch menu, and it has quietly become the dog-friendly anchor of the Hastings foreshore: staff are welcoming, and the outdoor tables are regularly ringed by local dogs.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome across the outdoor veranda and deck seating; the indoor dining room stays people only. Water bowls are usually out or fetched on request, though a backup in the car never hurts. The deck is flat and easy access from the car park, which suits older dogs, and seating is roomy enough to park a dog clear of the walkway. On busy weekend brunch sittings the deck fills, so an early table is the calmer option for a dog settling into a new spot.

Max: marina views for the humans, constant pats from passers-by for me, and a water bowl that arrived unasked.

Worth knowing

The Cuban sandwich is the signature: smoked leg ham, slow-cooked pork belly, Comte cheese and green chilli slaw. Local mussels in tom yum cream and shakshuka with nduja fill out a menu with solid vegetarian and vegan coverage. Hours run 7am to 2:30pm weekdays and 8am to 2:30pm weekends, so it is a breakfast-to-early-lunch proposition rather than a dinner stop.

Getting there and parking

The cafe is inside the Pelikan Park foreshore precinct on Marine Parade, with a large free car park directly in front. Weekday parking is easy; sunny weekend mornings tighten up along the waterfront row. Hastings is roughly a ten-minute drive from Frankston Flinders Road links and on the Frankston-Stony Point rail line.

Pair it with

The Hastings Foreshore Reserve Dog Off Leash Area is right on this stretch of foreshore, making a proper off-lead run before coffee entirely workable. For another dog-friendly coffee in town, Steamin Mugs and Harbourside Cafe are the local alternatives.

More stops are in the Victoria dog friendly cafes guide and the Hastings destination page.