Gold Exchange Café Restaurant

The Gold Exchange is a rustic breakfast-and-lunch cafe at 44-46 Main Street in Maldon, one of Victoria's best-preserved gold-rush towns, and it sits right in the middle of the morning dog-walking circuit. Dogs are welcome at the outdoor and street-front tables, with the heritage streetscape as the backdrop while you eat.

The dog setup

Tables outside and under cover are the dog-friendly zones, spaced widely enough for a dog to settle beside or under the table. Indoor seating is for people only. Staff are used to the morning walker crowd and often bring a water bowl out; keep your dog leashed to the chair and out of the server lanes, which get narrow when the verandah is busy.

The vibe

Portions are the talking point: big breakfast serves, a bacon and egg roll, a proper reuben sandwich and lasagne at lunch, plus homemade cakes like the apple almond cake with a hot chocolate on the side. The kitchen opens early, 6:45am on weekdays and 7:30am on weekends, wrapping up at 3pm, with Tuesdays the one closed day. Mornings are the pick before the breakfast crowd arrives.

Getting there and parking

Maldon is about 20 minutes south of Castlemaine in the Mount Alexander region, and the cafe sits centrally on High Street with free street parking close by. The 1860s storefronts make the post-meal wander worthwhile, all on-lead through town.

Close by with the dogs

There is a dog park just across the road for an off-lead run before or after breakfast, an unusual setup for a main street. For another meal in town, The Kangaroo Hotel takes dogs as well, and if you are staying over, Maldon Caravan and Camping Park and Butts Reserve both welcome dogs.

Max: Off-lead run across the road, then a bacon and egg roll on a verandah. Maldon understands the assignment.