The Little Leaf & Bean Cafe

The Little Leaf & Bean Cafe is a relaxed neighbourhood cafe at 7/19 Coromandel Parade, Blackwood, tucked beside the Memorial Hall in the southern Adelaide foothills. It trades 8am to 2:30pm Wednesday to Monday and closes Tuesdays, and the sheltered courtyard out the back is where dogs and their people end up, away from the traffic on the parade.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the covered courtyard and deck seating, on lead at your table. Water is readily supplied for visiting dogs, and staff have a reputation for making a fuss over them, though there is no formal dog menu or puppuccino. The courtyard is sheltered, so it is a reliable all-weather pick if a change rolls in while you are out. Weekend middays fill up, so an early table is the safe bet.

The menu

What sets this kitchen apart is the Egyptian thread through the menu: traditional Egyptian breakfasts and savoury platters sit alongside cafe staples, with the falafel wrap a popular order. There is a strong vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free line, including the cakes in the cabinet, and the coffee is specialty organic with Vietnamese iced coffee a regular feature. Portions are honest and prices sit at the affordable end for the area.

Getting there and parking

Free parking is in the lot servicing the Memorial Hall precinct, with street bays along Coromandel Parade and the side streets. Blackwood railway station is an easy walk for anyone arriving by train.

Close by with the dogs

Blackwood Forest Recreation Park, off Watahuna Avenue, is the closest off-lead option, where dogs under effective control can run through pine plantations and grassy hillsides with creek trails to follow. Sturt River Linear Park at Coromandel Valley is another good on-lead stretch. Belair National Park allows dogs on leads of two metres or less on designated trails only, with dogs kept out of picnic and playground areas. For a second coffee, Lenox Avenue Blackwood is up the same parade and is known to serve puppucinos.

More of the foothills is on the Blackwood destination page and the SA cafes index.