Bomboras

Bomboras opens its doors before the surf crowd has finished the dawn patrol: 6am weekdays, 7am weekends, right on The Esplanade at number 37, looking across to the Torquay foreshore. Breakfast runs to eggs benedict, lunch slides into seafood linguine and oysters, and the seafood platter plus porterhouse cover the sit down end of the day.

Dogs are welcome at the covered front decking and the front garden tables, both with the foreshore directly opposite, per the Pupsy pet directory listing and consistent visitor reviews; there is no written policy on the venue site. The covered decking matters here, because it means a dog can be with you through the morning drizzle that rolls off Bass Strait without anyone relocating. Water arrives with the table in most visitor accounts, and the morning crowd is largely dog owners walking the beach path anyway.

Early doors

The 6am start is the drawcard. Surfers, dog walkers and shift workers cycle through the first two hours, and the ocean view does its best work before the beach umbrellas go up. Later in the day the menu leans harder on the seafood side of the house, and the platter is the celebration order. Service keeps pace with the turnover, which is saying something in a beach town at 8am on a long weekend.

While you're out there

The foreshore path runs straight past the front door, and Jan Juc Dog Beach is the off leash swim a few minutes south for a proper run before breakfast. In town, Sandbah Cafe covers the other end of the coffee spectrum and Doc Hughes is the long lunch alternative two doors up the strip. The full suburb list sits on the Torquay page, and more dog friendly restaurants across Victoria are a click away.