Velvet

Velvet is a retro-styled cafe at 21 Gordon Street in the middle of Sorell, about 25 minutes east of Hobart, and it is one of the more reliably dog-welcoming stops in town. The draw for dog owners is the sheltered back courtyard, which regulars treat as a Saturday-morning ritual: coffee and breakfast in the garden while the dog settles under the table.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the sheltered backyard courtyard, and staff will often point you through the side entrance straight to the garden rather than through the dining room. Some footpath seating out the front works too on a fine day. Pets are not brought inside, so plan for the courtyard and pick a table with shade on warmer afternoons. A dedicated water station is not guaranteed to be out, so bring your own collapsible bowl.

The vibe and the food

The kitchen runs a proper breakfast and lunch menu: eggs benedict, bacon and egg rolls, homemade sausage rolls, the much-mentioned scallop pies, and carrot cake in the cabinet, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options covered and good coffee behind it. The vintage fit-out gives it a relaxed, lived-in feel rather than a polished city one. Hours run from 5:30am on weekdays for early traffic, with shorter weekend sittings from 7am Saturday and 8am Sunday, and everything winds up mid-afternoon.

Pepsi: This is a breakfast-to-lunch venue that closes early, so make it the start of the day and walk it off afterwards, not the other way round.

Getting there and parking

Gordon Street runs through central Sorell, with free street parking along the block and around the town centre. Access to the front is level and easy, and the Arthur Highway makes it a straightforward stop on the way through to the east coast or the Tasman Peninsula.

While you're out there

The Sorell Dog Park is a fully fenced off-lead run a few minutes away, with separate gated areas for big and small dogs, good for a burn-off before or after the courtyard. The Penna Dog exercise area is the quieter option back toward the airport side. For the next stop, Liv Eat Sorell is the other quick, healthy eat in town.

More around town is on the Sorell destination page, and the full list is in the Tasmania cafes index.