229 Dining Hall & Cafe

The job of transforming working-class watering hole into urban food-drinkery was completed with this vast and comfortably raw space beside Coburg's Post Office Hotel. Breakfast on a fry-up of house-cured bacon, char-grilled chorizo and duck neck sausage; lunch may be rare tuna nise. Evenings test the budget, but feature amped-up pub classics such as a Romsey T-bone, juicy inside and nicely charred out, with a good panzanella salad. Pizzas (maybe vine-ripened tomato and buffalo mozzarella) get budget diners over the line, and you can share a rich chocolate semifreddo. Service is smart, even with a full (and noisy) house.