Oliver Brown(Casula)

Oliver Brown at Casula Mall is a chocolate cafe built on churros, waffles and Belgian hot chocolate, and it is one of the few dessert stops in Sydney's south west that plans for dogs. The cafe sits just outside the mall entrance, so while the shopping centre itself is off limits to dogs, the external and outdoor seating around the cafe is open to them.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the outdoor areas on a lead, and the mall runs a dedicated Dog Parking Station near the front of the centre, close to the cafe, with shade and fresh water. The rules are explicit: no tying dogs to the entry or stairs, no leaving a dog unattended for more than an hour, and owners clean up. It is a sit-with-your-dog arrangement, not a hitching rail.

The vibe

The kitchen is all about the sweet end of the day: churros with molten chocolate dips, waffles and thick hot chocolate, served from 7am until 10:30pm every day. Those late hours are the reason to come with a dog, because the evening dessert run lands after the shopping-centre bustle has died down and the forecourt is calmer.

Pepsi: a cafe that is better at 8pm than 8am is my kind of place. Churros after dinner, dog on the forecourt, no crowds to thread through.

Getting there and parking

The cafe is at Shop 1B, 1 Ingham Drive, Casula, with the mall's car park directly alongside and access flat from the car park to the outdoor tables.

Close by with the dogs

After dessert, the Bulldog Park fenced dog park at Liverpool is a short drive for an off-leash run, and the coffee-biased Ristretto & Co and Bigge Espresso cover the mornings Oliver Brown's churros do not.

More choices are on the NSW dog friendly cafes guide and the Casula destination page.