Forty Beans

Forty Beans sits on Lower Beach Street in Balgowlah, with its outdoor seating looking over North Harbour Reserve. It runs 7am to 2:30pm every day of the week, which gives it a steady seven-day rhythm and makes it a reliable mid-walk stop on the harbour-side circuit. The position is the draw: few cafes on the northern beaches side of Sydney get a park outlook this close without being a destination venue.

Dogs are permitted outside only, at the outdoor seating area overlooking the reserve, per the Is It Dog Friendly listing and visitor reviews. The cafe sells house-baked dog treats, so the dog side of the operation is a real one, but keep your animal out of the interior; the boundary here is the shopfront line. The reserve across the way softens the restriction, since a dog fresh off the grass settles faster at a table, and the park run before coffee is the obvious way to structure the visit.

The vibe

This is a neighbourhood cafe rather than a destination: smoothies, cappuccinos, a tandoori chicken wrap and fresh food prepared to order, with staff noted as polite by visitors. The reserve view is the difference from the street-side cafes further up the hill, and it makes this the natural coffee stop before or after a lap of North Harbour. Weekend mornings draw the stroller crowd, so early tables are the calm ones; a 7am opening means the first hour belongs to walkers and their dogs before the families arrive.

Close by with the dogs

The suburb's other dog-friendly stops are walkable from here, close enough to make a two-stop morning of it: Aggy's Corner on West Street with its water bowls and polaroid wall, L'Americano Espresso Bar and Gusto on the Green. See the Balgowlah destination guide and the NSW dog-friendly cafes list for more.