Best coastal restaurants to try in Victoria this summer

It’s time to escape the city and hit the coast where a raft of new restaurants offers something for all tastes this summer.

Escape the city and head to the coast to check out a raft of new restaurants this summer.

The Continental Sorrento

Melbourne chef Scott Pickett’s biggest project to date has opened in stages this year, but this will be the first summer that holidaymakers can give all venues inside the glamorous hotel a red-hot crack. Push the boat out at upscale seafood fine diner Audrey’s, pare things back at downstairs bistro The Conti or breathe in the salty air under the stars at The Atrium with a cocktail in hand.

1-21 Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento

George Calombaris is in charge of the food direction at Hotel Sorrento. Picture: David Caird

Hotel Sorrento
While you’re on the Mornington Peninsula, make a pit-stop at Hotel Sorrento, which has housed the talents of George Calombaris for the past year or so. The chef and former MasterChef judge manages the hospitality strategy for the family-run hotel, calling the shots on the main pub’s Mediterranean food direction. He’s also opened casual Cantonese eatery Shihuishi and Mexican cantina Los Dos at the pub.
5-15 Hotham Rd, Sorrento

Ex-Oakridge chef Jo Barrett, pictured with Matt Stone, leads the kitchen at Little Picket in Lorne. Picture: David Caird

Little Picket
Future Food System chef and sustainability warrior Jo Barrett has swapped the big city life for a sea-change, opening a new restaurant at the Lorne Bowls Club. Expect a menu built around Barrett’s farm-to-fork ethos, from Surf Coast ingredients or produce plucked from a market garden grown 20 minutes from Lorne.
35 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne

Totti’s is coming to Lorne in late February.

Totti’s Lorne

The fourth outpost of the Merivale cash cow will move into the Lorne Hotel from mid to late February. The beachside trattoria of mega-rich Justin Hemmes will give southsiders a taste of Bondi’s famous ballooning flatbread and housemade pasta with Totti’s creator Mike Eggert and Matt Germanchis (of Anglesea’s Captain Moonlite) leading the kitchen. The restaurant will permanently move into the ground floor space occupied by MoVida, which closed earlier this year after a four-year tenancy. Expect a year-round seafood-leaning menu, which champions hyper-local producers.
176 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne

Fen Port Fairy

Port Fairy’s favourite Fen is back after a four-year break. Owners Ryan and Kirstyn Sessions closed the restaurant in 2018, hoping to revive the fine diner when the time was right. In 2020, the husband and wife duo hosted a series of pop-up dinners and in April this year, they reopened their intimate fine diner. Seating just 14 people, expect a showcase of native ingredients that have been farmed, foraged or locally caught.
24 Bank St, Port Fairy

Thyme at Alba Thermal Springs

Pack your bathers, only guests of the Mornington Peninsula’s newly minted thermal springs can get a taste of celebrity chef Karen Martini’s new restaurant. Dining and bathing packages are available, starting at $190 per person for brunch, lunch or dinner. Find your Zen with a green smoothie, snaffle crumbed fish sangers at lunch or lap up substantial feeds, such as red rice bowls with cured tuna or beef, carrot and daikon kare.
282 Browns Rd, Fingal