Where to eat in Metung: a visitor’s guide
For a village this size, Metung eats well. Waterfront pub meals, a proper seafood dinner by the Village Green, a bakery that does the morning coffee run, and a store that packs a picnic. If you’re working out where to eat in Metung, the good news is that most of it is a short walk from the middle of the village.
Metung sits on the Gippsland Lakes in East Gippsland, and its food leans on what’s around it: fresh local seafood, East Gippsland produce, and a handful of family-run kitchens. Here’s how to eat your way through a weekend without needing the car.
Sorting out dinner before you arrive
A weekend away can come unstuck on the small things. You arrive tired, nothing’s booked, and the one place you’d picked is full.
Metung is small, which cuts both ways. There’s less to choose from than in a city, but everything’s close, and a bit of planning means you’re not wandering the village at seven with a hungry table.
Book the sit-down dinners ahead, keep the casual spots up your sleeve, and the eating side of the trip sorts itself out.
On the water at the Metung Hotel
The Metung Hotel is the one everyone knows, and for good reason. It’s been on the shores of Bancroft Bay since 1870, a heritage waterfront pub with a boardwalk right on the water.
Lunch runs from midday to 2 pm and dinner from 6 to 8 daily, with the bar open from 11 am, and a little later through the holiday season. The menu is hearty pub fare with a lean toward local seafood, and you can eat out on the boardwalk on a nice day.
One local ritual worth timing: the pelicans are fed off the boardwalk at noon sharp, every day. Grab a drink, find a spot on the water, and let the kids watch. It’s the closest thing the village has to a floor show.
A seafood dinner by the Village Green
For a sit-down dinner, Nautica Restaurant and Bar is the pick. It’s next to the Village Green, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it leans into fresh local seafood and produce with a run of Italian dishes alongside.
There’s an open fire for the cold nights and outdoor seating with a view over the water for the warmer ones. It’s the spot to book when you want a proper dinner out rather than a casual bite. Reserve ahead on weekends, since word has got around and the tables go.
Coffee, bakery and picnic supplies
Mornings belong to the Metung Bakery & Cafe. It’s family-run, everything’s baked fresh in-store, and you’ll find bread, gourmet rolls, pies, pastries and hot food, plus local Riviera Organic ice cream for the walk home.
For self-catering and picnics, the Metung Village Store is the hub. Groceries, a bottleshop, newsagency, and boating and fishing gear all under one roof, open seven days. It’s also where you get the latest fishing report if you’re heading out on the water.
The sleeper option, if you feel like a short drive: the Metung Country Club restaurant, up by the golf course near the Metung Hot Springs, has been reborn as a smart dining room overlooking the greens. Worth it for a quieter, longer lunch away from the waterfront.
A weekend of eating, sorted
Put it together and a weekend runs itself. Bakery coffee to start, a boardwalk lunch with the pelicans, a seafood dinner by the green, and a picnic from the store for the day on the water.
That’s the shape of eating in Metung: close, casual, and built around the lake. No big nights out required, just good local food a short walk from wherever you’re staying.
Stay in the middle of it
The easiest way to eat well here is to stay where you can walk to all of it. Metung Waters Motel sits in the heart of the village, a short stroll from the Metung Hotel, the restaurants and the store, so dinner out never involves the car.
Book direct at metungwaters.com.au/accommodation. Which meal are you most looking forward to?