Frankie's Food Factory

Frankie's Food Factory occupies an unlikely site for a cafe with this much pull: it is set inside the Flower Power garden centre on Old Northern Road, Glenhaven, in Sydney's Hills District. The cafe opens 8am to 4pm on weekdays and 8am to 5pm on weekends, and the garden-centre setting gives it something no strip cafe can, a big green site with a lake, planted displays and room to breathe between tables. Parking is simple, since you are effectively parking at the nursery.

Dogs are accommodated in the designated outdoor seating zones, and the venue describes itself as pet friendly on its own site. There is a dedicated dog menu including puppacinos, so a dog-friendly visit here is a full-service one rather than a token water bowl. Because the dog seating is zoned, ask for one of the outdoor sections when you arrive rather than assuming every table is open to dogs, and keep your dog leashed while you move through the nursery paths where other customers and trolleys share the space.

Worth knowing

The drawcards beyond the dog setup are the lake view and the ducks, and families fill the place out, which tells you the layout is stroller-and-dog friendly by design. Ducks and dogs need management, though; the lake edge is close enough that a food-motivated dog will find it, so pick a table with some distance from the water if yours is a strong swimmer or a duck chaser. The one recurring note from visitors is wait time at peak brunch hours; the site is big but the kitchen is one kitchen, so weekday mornings are the calm version of the same menu.

Close by with the dogs

Glenhaven itself is light on dedicated dog stops, but the Hills District circuit around it is strong. Coolong Reserve Fenced Dog Park in Castle Hill is the fully fenced run for before or after brunch, and Benzin Cafe up at Dural and Remy Cafe & Bistro extend the cafe circuit for future visits. More options are in the NSW dog-friendly cafes list.