Bracegirdle's McLaren Vale

Bracegirdle's House of Fine Chocolate sits at 150 Main Road in the heart of McLaren Vale, a chocolate cafe in wine country serving handmade Belgian chocolates, rich hot chocolates and a full breakfast and lunch menu. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor seating, which makes it an easy sweet stop between cellar doors, with shaded lawn and garden tables out the front.

The dog setup

Dogs join you in the outdoor lawn, garden and alfresco tables, with the chocolate-lined interior off-limits. Keep your dog on a lead and close to the table; the garden fills with families on weekend afternoons, so a settled dog has an easier time of it. Staff are accommodating and will usually bring out a water bowl on request, though carrying your own covers the busy spells. Keep every plate well out of reach, since chocolate is genuinely toxic to dogs and this is one venue where the table is full of it.

Worth knowing

The waffles are the headline, built on Belgian sugar waffles with strawberries, ice cream and liquid chocolate poured over the top, and the hot chocolate list runs from white through dark to the chilli and cinnamon signature. There is a proper savoury and breakfast menu too, so it works as more than a dessert stop. Hours are 8am to 3pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm on weekends, so mornings are your safest bet with a dog.

Getting there and parking

The address is 150 Main Road, McLaren Vale, about 40 minutes south of Adelaide, with free on-site parking and extra street parking along Main Road when the lot fills. It is walkable from the main strip's cafes and cellar doors if you are staying in town.

Make a day of it

Walk the chocolate off on the vineyard trails: the Willunga Basin Trail gives longer loops through the wine country on lead, and the sealed Shiraz Trail corridor runs straight through the vale for a shorter push. Dog-friendly drinking and dining is thick on the ground here too, with McLaren Vale Hotel and Pizzateca both worth a stop, and Sam I Am Cafe covering the coffee end of the strip.

More options around the town are on the McLaren Vale destination page, and the full run is in the South Australia restaurants guide.

Pepsi: Mine got a spoonful of ice cream and I got the salted caramel hot chocolate, then we walked the Shiraz corridor until neither of us felt guilty. Fair trade.