Melburnians could be forgiven for feeling a little bit like those space billionaires in the news several weeks ago. We've gone from floating aimlessly to an abrupt re-entry.

Studies in the US show you're not alone if you're feeling a little woozy at the idea of eating out in an actual, proper, ridgy-didge restaurant. That's why al fresco dining is the Space Command hero of the hour.

So you're not ready to saddle up for caviar bumps and Grand Cru over starched white linen at the city's finest? Try going down the scale. Eat pizza in a parklet and lasagne in a laneway (actually, we might be a bit sick of lasagne by now).

As Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos would know, it's all about those first wobbly baby steps. As a primer for a summer of fun, consider these 22 top Melbourne cafes, which are bringing their positively pro-al fresco attitudes to the reopening party.

25 Tilba Street

A nostalgia-soaked espresso bar channelling the 1950s down to the gold lettering on the window and burnt orange and brown colour scheme, the little sibling of the nearby Cannoli Bar sports a captivating range of Italian pastries (hello, organic persimmon and custard tarts) along with ugly-delicious pies and the chance to pour your coffee from a four-cup Bialetti moka pot straight off the stove. Make like a modern Melburnian and perch on a milk crate out front to laugh at the joggers huffing along the Maribyrnong River or beat a strategic retreat to the sunny courtyard.

25 Tilba Street, Aberfeldie

Black Star Pastry

Strike a pose alongside the Insta-famous strawberry and watermelon cake on the people-watching St Kilda terrace. The Japanese black forest cake from the Sydney-born pastry juggernaut is hauntingly beautiful; ditto the ethereal dragon cake, both so intricately made they enhance the lab-like atmosphere. For life beyond cake (as if that's a thing), there are croissants and savoury pastries.

2C Acland Street, St Kilda, blackstarpastry.com.au

Coe & Coe

Keeping it simple but doing it well, the newcomer to the Yarraville 'hood has already got runs on the board at its two siblings across town. The formula remains the same: coffee, juices squeezed to order and panini with flair. The chicken schnitzel version is more like a dinner sandwich – or simply ditch the carbs and call it a salad.

16a Wembley Avenue, Yarraville; also Cremorne and Port Melbourne, coeandcoe.com.au

Ferrovia

It's a top score for Pascoe Vale that leading Italian chef Riccardo Momesso has turned a local caff into a bustling trattoria, and double points for pioneering the brilliant concept of the breakfast pizza. Topped with 'nduja, egg and cheese, or anchovies, olives and chilli, they're the naughty-but-nice way to start the day. Be quick to nab the Railway Parade real estate.

8 Railway Parade, Pascoe Vale

Florian

The idealised certainties of French village life are reimagined beautifully at this newly sprung Rathdowne Village star, where sitting kerbside will whisk you to the Marais in spirit, if not in body. Marble-topped tables, antique crockery and all-round toasty vibes are a stage set for greeting the sun with soft-boiled eggs on rye under a blanket of bearnaise and comte and celebrating lunch with comfort-centric pastas and elegant sangas.

617 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, floriancarlton.com.au

Good Times Milk Bar

The truth in naming award goes to this former milkbar, now upcycled into the south-east's most gelato-coloured venue for high-concept brekkies (the citrus-cured salmon with panko-crumbed egg and fried capers floats our boat) and the classic 1980s carb filler of potato gems riding shotgun with fried chicken burgers. Bring your pooch for a puppycino in the Astroturfed courtyard.

83 Tucker Road, Bentleigh, goodtimesmilkbar.com.au

Hector's Deli

When the sandwich rules the earth, Hector's can take the credit. Opened by bona fide chefs with show-off CVs, it turns the ultimate make-do meal into an occasion by way of classic combos done exceedingly well. Grab southside's most hotly contested picnic bench to enjoy their rare roast beef with parsley and vinegar sauce and sweet pickled white onions on Turkish sourdough. So simple, so compellingly good.

253 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, hectorsdeli.com.au

Ima Cafe

Onsen eggs and avo toast with nori paste, kara-age chicken burgers and hibachi-grilled salmon rice sandos. When a chef alum of Supernormal, Quay and Sake and a Japanese interior designer get together, it means excellent food in a Zen-like setting that spills onto the street with tables protected by the Victorian wrought-iron veranda. The ethical, minimal-waste philosophy embraces "ugly" fruit and vegetables and a serious recycling program for everything from oil to coffee grounds.

69 Elgin Street, Carlton, imacafe.co

Jerry's Milkbar

Did someone say institution? The decades-old Elwood stayer was rescued from closure by a trio of milkshake-loving white knights; they've kept the cheerful striped awning, faux ice-creams and tables out front but smartened the old joint's interiors up, all the better to keep crowds happy with baked eggs, meatball subs and all sorts of things Jerry would no doubt heartily approve of.

345 Barkly Street, Elwood

Left Field

You know a cafe is popular when local real estate agents spruik it in their sales pitches. Training the south-east in the dark arts of queueing for breakfast, Left Field is bang on target with its democratic pitch, providing sauteed greens and beetroot hummus on quinoa toast to appease the wellness gods and letting rip with peanut butter and caramelised banana porridge with honeycomb for everyone else. Feel smug from the comfort of kerbside seating, including family-sized wooden booths stretching along the street.

358 Koornang Road, Carnegie, leftfieldcarnegie.com

The Left-Handed Chef

Israeli chef Ehud Malka loves hummus. In fact, he loves it so much he opened a hummusiya, a casual Israeli restaurant devoted to the Middle East's edible raison d'etre. Silken, nutty, earthy and light, the hummus here is good indeed; pimp it up with fried cauliflower or stuff it in a pita with spiced lamb, or bring a bunch of mates and hit the epic jumbo challah chicken schnitzel while eyeballing the Tel Aviv end of Park Street.

108 Bank Street, South Melbourne, lhceatery.com

Maria

Hola, Maria. This Latin-leaning cafe near Upwey Station brings sunny vibes to the Dandenongs via a menu that inserts chipotle adobo chilli and baked jalapeno poppers into its eggs Benny and doesn't so much as blush over its chilaquiles (otherwise known as breakfast nachos, served with braised brisket, refried beans and a fried egg). Close to the 1000 Steps Kokoda Track Memorial Walk, there's also a sub-major in vegan food and wellness smoothies and a vitamin D-catching elevated courtyard out back.

56-58 Main Street, Upwey, mariamelbourne.com.au

Morning Market

Andrew McConnell's pandemic baby is a beauty. The superchef's first venture into groceries in Fitzroy proved so popular he's now opened southside, with a wholesome approach to life's necessities including fresh-cut flowers and Baker Bleu bread. Take a seat inside or outside on tree-shaded Grandview Grove for the typically on-song menu. Case in point: "continental" rolls going carnivorously good with Meatsmith ham, mortadella, salami and 'nduja along with provolone and pickles.

579 High Street, Prahran, morning.market

Napier Quarter

Start with the anchovy, boiled egg and salsa verde on toast (well, everyone else does). It's the must-order item on Eileen Horsnell's menu and a reason to get there before 5pm – this perfect snack doesn't do night shift, and those tables overlooking the Napier Street bicycle superhighway are better when the sun is shining. But whatever time you land in backstreet Fitzroy, there's guaranteed magic to be conjured with small plates of produce-driven perfection matched by wine that sets the dial to interesting.

359 Napier Street, Fitzroy

Ona Coffee

The Canberra coffee kings opened their Melbourne outpost last year and have kept Brunswick ticking along on their choice of up to 20 brews, including a "reserve" selection of the most exceptional beans that are vacuum-packed into individual serves, with the tasting notes to match the high-falutin' concept. You can also get stuck into cascara, the tea made from coffee cherries, and the edible likes of a mighty kimchi toastie, while sunning your tattoos on the architecturally magnificent multi-tiered front deck.

22 Ovens Street, Brunswick, onacoffeemelbourne.com

Patricia Coffee Brewers

Do one thing and do it well. The mantra of this caffeine-obsessed bolthole is writ large in everything it does – quite literally in the case of its tiled entrance plate declaring "Standing room only". Styled in the way of the chicest Old World coffee bar, you can expect a selection of pastries, some of the best coffee in Melbourne (brewed by the cafe's roastery offshoot Bureaux Collective) – and not a seat in sight. Take your cues from the denizens of Melbourne's legal district and mill about on the footpath over your morning caffeine hit (overheard conversations about tortious liability an added bonus).

493-495 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, patriciacoffee.com.au

Piggery Cafe

Once a pigsty, now a rustic-chic destination cafe, Shannon Bennett lets his farm-to-table flag fly at heritage-listed Burnham Beeches. From the brilliance of its baked goods to barramundi and wagyu burgers off the barbecue and ruggedly beautiful grain salads, it's an excellent excuse to take a daytrip to the Dandenongs, where the 23-hectare estate also includes farm animals, a trufferie, bocce and lawn bowls.

1 Sherbrook Road, Sherbrook, piggerycafe.com.au

Port of Call

When it comes to good-looking bayside locals, it's Port of Call for the win. Sporting mint green and terracotta livery and a Scandi maximalist design, it attracts crowds like the Boxing Day sales for its Esperanto menu that swings happily from harissa scrambled eggs on Turkish bread to panko-fried chicken. The very model of the smart Melbourne cafe, its Niccolo coffee is perfect for KeepCupping to nearby Sandy beach.

7 Bay Road, Sandringham, portofcall.com.au

Prior

There are few prettier cafes than this, with its blushing hues and precision brickwork, along with a courtyard leaning into the possibilities of dining en plein air, but Prior leavens its almost suspicious Insta-friendliness with a menu you can't help but like. Yes, we're talking about the four-cheese toastie with slow-cooked onion jam and brown butter, but you can also swing your phone camera in the direction of towering waffle stacks and vibrant green smoothies.

637 High Street, Thornbury, priorthornbury.com.au

Rat the Cafe

No, it's not the urban pest formally known as Rattus rattus but the handy acronym standing for "root and tip", the buzzing bywords for a delicious waste-not approach. Poached eggs saddling up with pesto made from leek and beetroot and stems, French toast made with yesterday's bread and bircher muesli with feijoas donated from the neighbourhood can all attest to that. Just opposite Wales Street Primary School, take a seat on the footpath and reminisce about the days of the old schoolyard.

72 Wales Street, Thornbury, ratthecafe.com.au

Stan's Deli

The vibe is old-school New York but Malvern's latest sandwich-sporting hero has plenty of modern twists to its menu. A Jerusalem artichoke toastie with horseradish mayo isn't your everyday fare; nor is a chicken schnitzel focaccia revved up with fermented honey garlic mayo. From a team of hospo notables, the Small Batch coffee also deserves a shout out. Grab it from the coffee window and colonise a streetside picnic table.

248B Glenferrie Road, Malvern, stansdeli.com.au

Via Porta

While Italy remains a pipe dream for a little while, Mont Albert is the next best thing thanks to the method acting stylings of Via Porta. A mid-century vision of terrazzo floors and marble counters infused with a sun-bleached sense of la dolce vita, it answers Italian cravings with the big-hearted flavours of 'nduja-spiked eggs, stracciatella-oozing lasagne and eggplant parma rendered into toastie form. Sit out the front and watch the Mont Albert passeggiata.

677 Whitehorse Road, Mont Albert, viaporta.com.au