Three Blue Ducks at URBNSURF in Tullamarine

Great food, cold beer, aqua waves rolling in — no, it’s not the Maldives, it’s Three Blue Ducks at a Tullamarine surf park.

The ethical Provenir porterhouse with cos lettuce.

The colour is utterly unreal.

Iridescently enticing, it’s an otherworldly aquamarine that is so inviting, so intoxicating, it takes every effort not to rip off my clothes and jump right in.

But I’m here for lunch, not a swim.

“It’s just like the Maldives,” says chief cook and bottle washer, Mark Labrooy, which is probably the nicest thing anyone has said about Tullamarine.

And he’s had time to drink in that view since finally opening the doors a fortnight ago to the long-awaited, much-anticipated first Melbourne outpost of the Three Blue Ducks here at Australia’s first urban surf park.

Complete with lifeguard stand and those perfect waves rolling in, the view from the Ducks’ deck across the lagoon is totally transportive, and if you don’t quite make it to the Maldives in your mind’s eye, at least the glorious expanse of sky – and welcome lack of chlorine in the air – will take you further than industrial park airport.

Slice of the action: pizza post surf sounds swell. Pictures: Tony Gough

There are grey haired grommets and tousled teens, dad and the kids, and groups of mates all wetsuited and ready to tackle the perfect man-made waves that range from little beginner burps through to barrelling slabs and for those who until now have always gunna Gunnamatta, this is the perfect place to take 60 to hang 10.

But it’s not just the surfers, the Ducks are here to keep well fed and watered.

With 350 seats across that deck and two levels inside, swathes of north/western suburbs now have a great new eatery that’s doing breakfast through dinner daily.

Sure you could just come and smash a burger that’s served with some terrific chicken-fat crunchy spuds – and plenty are doing just that after a surf – but it’s the Ducks’ dedication to top-notch suppliers and sustainable, ethical produce that has seen them successfully nest up Australia’s east coast from Sydney through Bryon to Brisbane and elevates the offering from poolside kiosk to restaurant proper.

Finger-licken: The rotisserie chook.

Ethically produced beef from innovative local on-farm processor Provenir, for instance, is used in that burger – the patty retaining a hint of pink has great flavour, there’s welcome heat from pickled jalapenos and old-school iceberg crunch, $23 – but also comes in 400g of bone-in Porterhouse form, $49.

Share that with a couple of veg sides – more of those potatoes, $12, or a refreshing wodge of cos lettuce drizzled with green goddess sauce and topped with pangrattato (fried breadcrumbs) $11, and all of a sudden you have a winner dinner for two.

But many will gravitate to one of the four sourdough pizzas on offer, and well they should. Wood-fired charry and satisfyingly chewy, the airy-crusted base generously strewn with garlicy roasted mushrooms, sweet caramelised onion and finished with restorative amount of cheese makes for a for a spot-on lunch in the sun for one ($24).

The burger with brilliant chicken-fat spuds.

Crowd-pleasing buttermilk fried chicken seems to be going out to every second table ($16), though the half rotisserie Milawa chook, with its sticky-fermented capsicum glaze that holds the sweet-savoury line like a pro, shows the kitchen’s smarts more clearly.

Under a George Hamilton tan, the meat is terrifically tender, a drizzle of gravy/jus amping the finger-lickin-chicken factor. It’s excellent meat treated simply but cleverly which justifies its $32 price tag.

An earlier plate of BBQ octopus was let down by its headliner being overcooked, but the support acts – smoked potato puree and a nutty barely puree – could tour on their own ($23).

As pretty a picture of summer as a Sunnyboy, the broken meringue with strawberries, basil, lemon curd and confidently sprinkled with salt, is this season’s grand finale ($16).

The outdoor deck at the Three Blue Ducks. Picture: Tony Gough

The sea salt meringue with lemon curd and strawberries

A “ducklings” menu takes care of the kids; a cellar filled with bottles from Victorian small producers who care about their vines takes care of mum and dad (though there’s some steep, Sydney-like mark ups), while a dozen taps of independent brewers such as Stomping Ground, Bodriggy and Fixation takes care of the beer beards.

Young staff are keen and plentiful.

Like a perfect wave, the something for everyone at any time model is hard to nail, but the Ducks have taken to Melbourne like, well, incredibly coloured water.

Three Blue Ducks at URBNSURF

309 Melrose Drive, Tullamarine

Open daily breakfast-dinner

threeblueducks.com/melbourne