Salt Cafe & Bar

Salt Cafe & Bar runs the oceanfront strip at 63 Sea Parade in Port MacDonnell, the southern-most town in South Australia, and it is the seafood stop on the Limestone Coast for lobster straight off the local boats. Formerly Periwinkles Cafe, it carries a proper dog setup rather than a grudging one: a sheltered courtyard with glass wind panels and umbrellas, plus footpath tables along the front, all with the bay across the road.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the outdoor courtyard and the footpath tables, with water bowls provided, which puts it a notch above most coastal cafes for planning a longer lunch with a dog in tow. Keep your dog leashed and settled, since the courtyard paths get used by staff carrying plates, and expect no indoor access under the usual South Australian food rules. The wind panels earn their keep on the days the bay breeze picks up.

The menu

The point of the trip is Southern Rock Lobster, served plain or grilled with garlic butter when the fresh local stock is on, generally through the middle of the day. Around it sits a proper seafood menu: platters, grilled scallops, seafood chowder, calamari, prawns and flake, with breakfast and lunch plates, salads and Coonawarra wines covering the rest. Availability shifts with the catch, so ring ahead on (08) 8738 2943 if lobster is the whole reason you drove down.

Getting there and parking

Port MacDonnell is about half an hour south of Mount Gambier, and Salt sits on Sea Parade, the town's oceanfront strip, with free street parking directly out front and a wheelchair-accessible entrance. Doors open from 8:30am on weekdays and 8am on weekends, closing mid-afternoon, so it is a breakfast-and-lunch venue rather than dinner. An early sitting beats the weekend seafood rush, and the foreshore opposite gives the dog a leg-stretch before you order.

Pair it with

For the morning after, Tide Espresso Bar is a short walk along Sea Parade with another dog-friendly outdoor area, and overnighting with the van or tent is easy at the Port MacDonnell Foreshore Tourist Park, right on the same strip.

Max: a town where the boats park next to the cafe, and the humans who feed me lobster always share.

More of the state's tables are on the South Australia restaurants list, or browse Port MacDonnell.