The Nursery Cafe

The Nursery Cafe runs out of the Canberra Nursery & Garden Centre at 44 Railway Street, Oaks Estate, and it is a weekend-only affair. The kitchen cooks Punjabi food, and the whole setup sits inside an open-air plant nursery, which makes it one of the easier dog stops on Canberra's south-east edge: leashed dogs are welcome throughout the garden setting, so a coffee run and a nursery browse end up being the same outing.

The dog setup

Because the cafe operates from a permanent food stall within the garden centre itself, there is no indoor-outdoor split to manage. Tables sit among the pots and plants, and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome while you order and eat. There is no dedicated dog menu, so bring your own water bowl rather than expecting one at the counter, and keep your dog close: this is a working nursery, with shoppers and trolleys moving past on weekends.

What the kitchen does

The draw here is the Punjabi menu, which you will not find at most Canberra cafes. Stuffed paranthas, sarson da saag, chai and mango lassi are the staples, cooked fresh on weekends. It is honest, homestyle food rather than a standard brunch board, and prices sit at cafe-friendly levels for the paratha plates.

Getting there and parking

The nursery sits on Railway Street in Oaks Estate, just over the border from Queanbeyan and a short drive from Fyshwick. Customer parking is available onsite at the garden centre, so you can park, walk the dog through the grounds and settle at a table without street-hunting.

Make a day of it

Weekend hours only, 9am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, with the kitchen dark Monday to Friday. If you are making the trip across the border, Thirty 4 Café & Restaurant in Queanbeyan is another dog-friendly cafe option, and Queanbeyan Riverside Caravan Park works for overnight stops with a dog in tow.

Max: The parathas come out hot and the garden smells like a nursery should. Plan around the weekend window, because a weekday trip will only get you plants.

More options are on the ACT dog friendly cafes guide and the Oaks Estate destination page.