Meridian Cafe

Meridian Cafe is a country cafe on George Street in Marulan, the village stop on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Canberra. It opens at 5am every day of the week and closes at 4pm, which makes it one of the more useful early departures on that run, and it sits directly opposite a park where the dog can have a proper stretch while you wait on coffee.

Dogs at Meridian

The cafe has outdoor seating on the main street and it is the tables travellers with dogs gravitate to. Because you are right on George Street with regular car and foot traffic going past, keep the lead short and your dog close to the table rather than stretched out on the footpath.

The kitchen covers the country cafe classics from open to close: bacon and egg rolls, sausage rolls, scones, burgers including a halloumi version, and gluten free treats in the cabinet. It is a road-trip stop, not a destination brunch, and the portions match the brief.

The dog wall

For years the interior walls carried hundreds of portraits of visiting dogs, a charity fundraiser that turned the cafe into a minor pilgrimage stop for owners driving the Hume and raised more than $10,000. Reports of a change in management mean the wall may not look the way it did, so if the portraits are the reason you are pulling off the highway, it is worth checking before you detour. The coffee and the park across the road hold up regardless.

Max: order takeaway, eat on the park side of the street, and let the dog watch the highway traffic while you eat. Everyone wins.

Getting there and parking

The cafe is at 85 George Street, Marulan, a well signed turn off the M31. Street parking sits directly out front, and pulling in off the highway is easier than most service centre exits on this stretch. Tony Onions Memorial Park is almost directly opposite, with picnic tables and open grass.

Make a day of it

Lazy George Cafe on the same strip keeps outdoor tables for dogs if Meridian is crowded, and if you are pushing on north, the fenced off-leash area at Victoria Park in Goulburn is a further half hour up the road and a good run for a travel dog.

More stops are on the NSW dog friendly cafes guide and the Marulan destination page.