Selby General Store & Cafe

Selby General Store & Cafe is a family-run country cafe and community co-op at 117 Belgrave-Gembrook Road in the Dandenong Ranges, and it is the kind of stop where dogs are clearly part of the regular crowd. Their own posts say it plainly: there is a dog friendly area along the street front, and staff are known to bring out a puppacino for visiting dogs.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome outside, at the tables under the front umbrellas along the street frontage; indoors is kept for customers without pets, so plan on the outdoor side in any weather. The street through Selby is quiet, which makes the footpath seating calmer than most hillside strip cafes. The space is small, so an off-peak visit means more room for your dog to settle.

The vibe and the food

The menu leans on well-rated coffee, sausage rolls, homemade brownies and a solid vegetarian and vegan selection, with general-store basics and local crafts on the shelves if you need supplies for the rest of the day. It runs 8am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. The community co-op feel is the draw here as much as the food, and walkers coming off the forest tracks are a big part of the trade.

Pepsi: Save the puppacino for after the walk, not before. There are too many good off-lead spots around Selby to spend the morning sitting still.

Getting there and parking

The store sits on Belgrave-Gembrook Road, an easy drive from Belgrave or Menzies Creek, with free street parking and some limited on-site spots. Belgrave Station is the nearest train stop, a short drive or bus ride away.

While you're out there

The Minak Reserve Dog Off Leash Area is in Selby itself, and Belgrave Lake Park Dog Off Leash Area is a few minutes back toward Belgrave. The Emerald to Cockatoo Trail is the longer on-lead rail-trail option. Note that dogs are prohibited on most walking tracks inside Dandenong Ranges National Park and must be on a lead of two metres or less where they are allowed. Pepis Land Dog Off Leash Area at Emerald is the big fenced run further south.

More around the hills is on the Selby destination page, and the full list is in the Victoria cafes index.