Noble Monks

Noble Monks is a big, busy cafe and dining room at 120-126 Maude Street in central Shepparton, mixing modern Australian breakfast classics with Thai, Indian and Malay fusion plates. It takes dogs at the outdoor tables out the front and runs through to dinner on weekend nights, which makes it one of the few day-to-night options in the Goulburn Valley for cafe-goers with a dog in tow.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the street-side outdoor tables, kept on lead. Staff are generally quick with a water bowl, though a backup bowl in the bag is never wasted here. The frontage sits on an active stretch of the CBD street, so this suits a dog that is settled around foot and road traffic rather than one that startles at buses and prams. Inside remains people only.

Worth knowing

The food is the reason people come: the Big Noble Breakfast anchors the morning menu, mini sliders, bruschetta and a brekkie burger fill the middle, and the kitchen moves into barra, seafood marinara and curry-fusion plates for lunch and dinner. There are vegetarian and vegan options across the board, and the venue is licensed, with wine, craft beer and cocktails in the evening sessions. Hours run 8am to 3pm Tuesday through Sunday, with dinner service from 5pm to 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights, and Monday closed.

Getting there and parking

Maude Street is Shepparton's main retail strip, with all-day parking in the surrounding off-street carparks and metered spots along the block. The cafe sits within walking distance of the Shepparton Art Museum precinct and Victoria Lake, so it slots into a longer town walk rather than a drive-only stop.

Close by with the dogs

For off-lead time, the Shepparton Fenced Dog Park at Princess Park and the Ducat Reserve park are both a short drive out. The Local and GB Coffee cover the town's other coffee sits if you are working through the list.

More options are on the Victoria dog friendly cafes guide and the Shepparton destination page.

Max: book the front tables for a Friday dinner rather than turning up, because the evening sessions pack out and the street side is the only place a dog can wait.