A laid-back local that under-promises and over-delivers with top-flight produce, sharp cooking and considered drinks.

Café or pub? Wine bar or cosy neighbourhood restaurant? The magic of The Corner Dairy is that it’s all these things, breezily segueing from takeaway coffees by day to a casual hangout come afternoon and night. Sunny days are best spent on the patio, sinking a tangy cucumber-and-dill gose from Gweilo Beer, or something similarly fun from the avant-garde list spanning 40-plus labels. Cool nights, meanwhile, might find you inside by the fire, swirling malbec from Margaret River upstart Vallée du Venom.

Dry-aged sirloin far exceeds expectations, the fat skilfully rendered, the peppercorn sauce finely tuned.

Gun chef James Cole Bowen’s one-page menu may appear predictable at first, but when kingfish ceviche arrives – thick-cut and soused in smoked macadamia leche de tigre and Geraldton wax oil – it becomes clear there’s paddling aplenty going on beneath the surface. Dry-aged sirloin far exceeds expectations, the fat skilfully rendered, the peppercorn sauce finely tuned. So too a salted dark chocolate mousse given nuance and depth from malt-whisky ice-cream and whisky caramel.

Much like everything else, service here is far better than it needs to be, with knowledge and attentiveness matched by can-do attitude. There’s nothing, it seems, the place can’t do.