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Ah, the lure of a country pub. While most of us are drawn to the idea of having a beer in a laid-back pub on the coast or out bush, chefs and restaurateurs are drawn to buying the pub itself.

Matt Moran has bought the local pub in Rockley, and Justin Hemmes of the Merivale Group is a multiple purchaser, in Narooma, Byron Bay, and Lorne on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. Now it’s Budgewoi’s turn.

In 2021, the Sydney Restaurant Group’s Drakopoulos family members bought the Coast Hotel on the northern end of the Central Coast, spent a mozza, and reopened it in late 2022 as the Budgewoi Hotel.

Don’t worry, it’s still a pub, with its big downstairs bars, sweeping beer garden, sports bar, and $5 tacos and $10 Margies on Tuesdays. But now that they have opened the first-floor dining room as the Italian-accented Lago Cucina, suddenly Budgewoi is destination dining.

Smartly done out like a well-appointed beach house, with sun-washed Mediterranean colours, terrazzo counters and loads of light, Lago Cucina is a breath of fresh air. If the windows are wide open, you can even breathe in the fresh air as it rustles the leaves of the magnificent rubber tree on the corner, and catch glimpses of the local kids jumping off the bridge into Budgewoi Creek.

(Redact that. I don’t want to get them into trouble for something their parents –and their parents’ parents – probably did at their age.)

The Drakopoulos family run a tight ship, and I clock patriarch Bill, daughter Nicola and son Daniel on board for the opening, supporting manager Andrew Carson. So, too, is the group’s key chef Adam Spencer from Ventuno in Walsh Bay, charged with producing the kind of crowd-pleasing, easy-going Italian dishes the group has made its own.

Deep-fried calamari, for instance, is no stranger to Italian trattorias or to pub menus, but this is sweetly tender Hawkesbury calamari ($24), all rings, strips and squiggly little tentacles, lightly coated in cornflour and fried until crisp.

There’s pasta, of course, and a safe-sounding dish of mushroom ravioli ($32) has a greater level of interest than first implied. The pockets are filled with ricotta and mushroom paste, and the rich, creamy sauce is chockers with Swiss browns, shiitakes and button mushrooms, sweetened with black garlic. It looks, well, brown, but the flavours are autumnally rewarding.

Wood-fired pizza also goes that extra yard, with its bubbly, scorchy crust and interesting toppings.

The Italia ($30) is a highlight, with San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte cheese, freshly sliced prosciutto and a scattering of rocket leaves. Half Neapolitan and half Roman in style, it’s well-leavened, crisp-bottomed, and juicy without being sodden. No local beers on the list can only mean one thing: a simpatico pairing with an icy cold Peroni ($11).

South Australian swordfish ($38) is an elegant package, the nicely cooked fish hiding under a warm wash of potatoes, capers and green olives in a herbal green dressing. A glass of New Zealand’s 2022 Te Mata sauvignon blanc ($15), with its notes of lime, passionfruit and melon, plays along.

Ripples Chowder Bay manager and sommelier Iain Wood has put together a tight, mostly Australian list of wines at reasonable prices, adding bespoke cocktails (Sloe-groni, Lago Martini) and a praise-worthy 17 wines by the glass.

Bringing up the rear are tiramisu, affogato, or a rhubarb and coconut cheesecake ($16) with rhubarb and raspberry jelly. Take it with a Little Marionette coffee and chase it with a stroll down to the charming footbridge across the river.

The two-speed business model makes sense here, with the pub looking after locals downstairs, and relaxed city-smart dining for the Sydney/Newcastle weekend set upstairs. Both will play a significant role in local employment and training, so I wish them all the best.

Now all we need are more places to stay overnight. Maybe we should all be buying pubs.