Bella Bacio Café

Bella Bacio Cafe is the local all-day cafe on Centennial Avenue in Lane Cove North, running organic coffee, big breakfasts and a genuinely pet-welcoming front section that has made it a regular stop for walkers in the suburb. Dogs sit at the outdoor tables out front, and the team are easy about water and settling in, which is most of what you want from a neighbourhood morning stop.

The dog setup

The outdoor tables on the Centennial Avenue frontage are the place for dogs. Some regulars have been allowed to settle just inside the doorway in quieter spells, but NSW food-safety rules keep dogs to outdoor areas at most Sydney cafes, so treat the footpath section as the default and ask staff on the day. Bring a travel bowl for the busy mid-morning run; the footpath is shared with prams and foot traffic, so keep the lead short and the dog under the table edge.

The menu

Organic beans drive the coffee, and the kitchen runs an all-day list: a bacon and egg roll, fritters, eggs Benedict and avocado toast on the breakfast side, then crispy fish and chips, chicken schnitzel, gourmet sandwiches and burgers through lunch. There are kids' options, acai bowls, muffins and banana bread, so the table works for mixed groups. Hours are 6:30am to 2:30pm on weekdays and 7:30am to 2pm Saturday, closed Sundays, which makes it a weekday and Saturday-morning venue.

Getting there and parking

The address is 7 to 13 Centennial Avenue, Lane Cove North. Free street parking lines the surrounding streets and there is visitor parking in the Sevana building beside the strip. The entrance is wheelchair accessible, and the outdoor tables sit straight off the footpath so there is nothing to navigate with a lead.

Close by with the dogs

For an off-lead leg before breakfast, Blackman Park Fenced Dog Park in Lane Cove West is a short drive with fully fenced, double-gated runs and agility equipment. Closer to the strip, Fink Cafe is another dog-friendly coffee option in the same suburb, and Birdwood Cafe covers the Lane Cove village side.

More options are listed on the New South Wales dog friendly cafes guide and the Lane Cove destination page.

Max: bacon and egg roll for the human, a spot under the Centennial Avenue table for me. Saturday at 7:30am sharp beats the pram traffic.