Shelley Street Cafe

Shelley Street Cafe is the old-fashioned corner store on North East Road that locals rate as much for the welcome as for the food. Reviewers on the regular dog-walking circuit call out the clean outdoor tables and the friendly owners by name, and dogs are part of the weekend ritual here, which makes it a dependable stop on the ridge.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the outdoor tables on a lead, which is where most of the regulars sit anyway on weekends. Bring a bowl as backup because a water bowl is not guaranteed every visit. There is no indoor access for dogs, and the cafe is compact, so pick a table that leaves room for other foot traffic.

The vibe and the menu

The food is homestyle cafe fare done properly: bacon and egg rolls, the house omelette, steak sandwiches, toasties that reviewers call the best around, and a modest but fresh cake and cookie counter, all on DiBella coffee. Weekdays run 6:30am to 2pm and weekends 7:30am to noon, so it is a breakfast-and-lunch stop rather than an afternoon one. Expect a country corner store feel with old-school service, and a queue of regulars on Saturday mornings.

Getting there and parking

The cafe sits at 1303c North East Road in Tea Tree Gully, up on the ridge northeast of the city. Free street parking and a small car park cover drivers, and it is an easy stop off North East Road on the way to Anstey Hill Recreation Park, where dogs on a lead are welcome on the trails.

Make a day of it

The Yellow Track Loop on Anstey Hill is the natural pre-coffee walk. For an off-lead run, Ashley Avenue Dog Park at Ridgehaven and the fully fenced Golden Grove Fenced Dog Park are both a short drive, and Bentley Reserve adds agility obstacles to the mix. For a longer sit-down after, The Gully Public House & Garden welcomes dogs in its outdoor garden up the road.

More of the northeast is on the Tea Tree Gully destination page, and the full list sits in the SA cafes index.