Café Melba

Its location at the Goodman Arts Centre affords Café Melba plenty of sprawling grounds for bright and breezy family gatherings. On the menu at this Aussie-inspired café are child-friendly items like kids' pancakes ($6), French toasts ($6), and pizza and pasta sets ($16, comes with fruit juice or milk and ice cream). Come the weekend, hearty roasts take centre-stage.

On Mondays, kids eat free with every main course ordered by a parent, but hold off the eating first. There's a bouncy castle to run amok in from 3pm, and an arts and crafts corner for hands-on fun from 5 to 8pm. The bouncy castle also surfaces on the weekend, but on any other day, the expansive lawn provides more than enough space for junior to run around.