Geelong's best restaurants: 12 must-try dining spots

Geelong's dining scene has evolved dramatically over the past decade, driven by the influx of Melburnians who have brought their food standards and the investment in the waterfront precinct that has created the settings to match the cooking ambition.

The Wharf Shed

The Eastern Beach waterfront restaurant in the heritage shed delivers the most atmospheric dining setting in Geelong, the original timber frame, the corrugated iron walls, and the waterfront terrace combine to create the kind of space that the food and wine of regional Victoria deserve. The Great Ocean Road seafood and the Geelong wine list are the focus.

Igni

Aaron Turner's Igni in Little Malop Street is Geelong's most ambitious fine dining room, the wood fire cooking, the daily-changing menu driven by Turner's morning market visits and producer relationships, and the intimacy of the 30-seat room make it a destination booking that Melburnians make the hour's drive for. The charcoal-touched pork belly and the ember-roasted root vegetables are among the finest things a kitchen this size can produce.

Sow and Piglets

The award-winning wine bar and small plates restaurant on Little Malop Street is Geelong's most socially accomplished evening destination, the natural wine list, the sharing plate format, and the relaxed expertise of the staff create the best casual dining experience in the city.

Mr. Murph's

The brunch restaurant in South Geelong has built a following that extends across Victoria for a breakfast and lunch menu that takes the format as seriously as dinner, the sourdough crumpets, the house-smoked salmon, and the coffee program that uses Geelong roaster Small Batch make it the obvious Saturday morning first stop.

Boom Gallery

The art gallery cafe in Pakington Street, Newtown, has been Geelong's specialty coffee and creative community hub for more than a decade. The rotating gallery exhibitions, the excellent filter coffee, and the lunch menu that changes with the season make it the Geelong institution that most accurately captures what the city has become.