Stringers is a Mornington Peninsula icon. This longstanding corner cafe on Ocean Beach Road was relaunched in 2022 by the Darling Group (Higher Ground, Top Paddock and Kettle Black), bringing the 1896-built limestone beacon into the modern era as an all-day restaurant and bar with a provedore selling fancy deli and grocery items.

On the breakfast menu, you might find fluffy ricotta hotcakes and pecorino-topped truffled mushrooms on toast. But during the day, a pizza oven imported from Verona kicks in, churning out Neapolitan-style pies made with 72-hour fermented and proved dough.

As well as pizzas, the lunch offering features snacks such as potato cakes with tartare sauce, pastas including a spaghetti marinara, and a dedicated grill section spruiking barbequed prawns and steaks. Most of the dishes centre around locally caught seafood.

There’s an underground wine cellar stocked with rare and crowd-pleasing drops from the area, which you can also shop from a dedicated wine wall in-store.

The bright, breezy refit – led by Melbourne’s Chris Connell Design (Hero, Agostino, Bar Carolina) – pays homage to the building’s century-old heritage. But it’s been freshened up with custom-designed furniture and modern, coastal-inspired touches. The sleek, light-filled space has a Mediterranean vibe that spills out into a north-facing courtyard with a huge olive tree.