Captain Moonlite

“Our kitchen is so transparent that the community can see all the inner workings, from breaking down a big tuna to making ice-cream or smoking meats. It’s nice to show that things don’t just come from a packet.”

Fremantle octopus with potato cake and vinegar; prawn and seaweed cracker; and quince terrine with treacle ice cream.

Captain Moonlite is as rare as that fabled white whale: a brilliant seafood restaurant in a real, active, Surf Life Saving club that has views to match. Matt Germanchis swings easily between cheffy moves (raw tuna cubes infused with just a lick of smoke, to slather on potato crisps; a plate-sized prawn cracker dusted in umami-heavy wakame and dashi powders) and keeping the families that inhabit this Anglesea icon happy. Fish and chips are best-in-show (the fish usually rockling; the chips up to a standard of a chef who once worked for Heston Blumenthal). There’s non-seafood, too, including a toasty, beetroot-capped saganaki or lamb souvlaki supporting the Greek inflection. And it’s good to know, while staring at the waves, that this solar-powered community hub takes its responsibilities seriously, from the ban on plastic straws to the support from local organic suppliers such as Kinsfolk Farm. This is how seaside dining should be. More, please.

“With a menu informed by the flavours of the Med and an unbeatable beachfront location, Captain Moonlite nails the seaside-dining brief.”

–Michael Harden, Gourmet Traveller