If you’re heading out for a bite to eat or a coffee in Subi, here are our pick of the places where your pooches are most welcome to come along too.
Cafe Café
Subiaco Square Road, Subiaco
The scarlet umbrellas outside this stalwart of the Subi café scene are a welcome sight for those in need of sustenance with pups in tow, rain or shine. Café Café seems to always have a steady stream of devotees, whatever time of day you rock up, either grabbing an expertly-brewed macchiato to go from the side window, or grabbing a chair inside or out for something more substantial. There’s a dedicated pet-friendly area for those with an extra friend to accommodate. There’s an ever-changing cabinet of fresh cakes and traybakes, as well as salads, wraps and baguettes and brunch (try the Canadian pancakes or the chilli scrambled eggs). We also love the artist-in-resident art works adorning the walls – culture with your coffee makes for an uplifting time out, we say.
Little Rokeby Café
269 Rokeby Road, Subiaco
On any given Saturday or Sunday, you’ll find a pack of pampered pooches, patiently waiting outside Little Rokeby as their owners to drink up and enjoy brunch. There are tasty dog biscuits at the counter for these furry customers to enjoy – a nice touch if you forgot to pack their favourite snacks. For their owners inside, they may be tucking into a big bowl of fruity porridge or bircher, and the café does a brisk trade in baby cinos, hot chocolates and prana chai, hand-made with black tea, whole spices, honey and ginger.
Whisk Creamery
151 Rokeby Road, Subiaco
The Subiaco temple to all-things gelato is consistently in the top five when it comes to the best milkshakes not just in town – but in Australia. The inventive creamery was also pretty much at the forefront of creating crazy-beautiful combinations of gelato and toppings beyond the sprinkles and chocolate Flakes or our collective childhoods. Choose your base ice cream (or two, or three) then add salted caramel, meringue, Nutella or custard. Go the full nine yards and smother it in gold leaf, add a unicorn motif or make it into a chocolate kebab or croinut (that’s an indulgent donut/croissant hybrid). Your dog will watch hungrily as you push the limits of what artisan soft serve in a cone or cup can reach, heights-wise. There’s a strong thread of creative flavour use at work here too – where else will you find a matcha croinut sandwich covered in choc fudge sauce, this side of Tokyo?
Cafe Melograno
67 Heytesbury Road, Subiaco
Bring your four-legged friend along to Café Melograno, and enjoy a slice of la dolce vita. You’ll find plenty of new best friends for your favourite good boy or girl, tied to the tree outside the café, with fresh water available while you settle in for brunch or brekkie. The friendly staff aren’t lying when they say they’re ‘serving seven days a week with a smile’. The near-legendary carrot cake is always welcome and while you’re at the chilled cabinet, why not pick up a frittata, wrap or freshly-made filled baguette? For a café that’s named after one of the most flavour-intense fruits around – the pomegranate – on one of Subi’s prettiest, tree-lined streets, we suggest you take your time and get around the Melgorano’s scrambled specials.
Hole in the Wall Cafe
Subiaco Arts Centre, 180 Hamersley Rd, Subiaco
Small is beautiful and for this literal hole in the wall coffee and toastie outpost in the grounds of the Subiaco Arts Centre, is a firm favourite for animal and caffeine lovers.
There’s plenty of seating on the lawns of the Theatre Gardens when the weather plays ball, making it a great spot for furballs to frolic. The coffee’s locally roasted (5 Senses Coffee) and you can grab a baby chino too if you’ve brought your other babies along for a visit. Speaking of which, in August, they’ll be holding some cute events, like cupcake decorating for kids as part of the Subi Coffee Series. Keep an eye on their socials for more info. Smudge the rabbit (@coffeewithsmudge) has even been known to pay a visit to Hole in the Wall – and if it’s good enough for this super-friendly flop-eared bunny, it’s good enough for us.
The Cat Cafe Purrth
147 Rokeby Road, Subiaco
If you can’t bring your pets with you, why not go to where the pets already are? The Cat Café Purrth, is one of the city’s more unusual hang-outs, mostly because there are more felines in situ per human than you’d usually expect. If you’re missing some cuddle-time, this is the place to come, made all the more memorable if you grab one of their handcrafted reusable cups for your cato-cino or cat-white. The rescued permanent residents of the café from Cat Haven are adored by all of the café’s guests but there’s a more serious mission behind this adorable concept. Over the past year, over 100,000 people have been introduced to the idea of rescue cats, rehoming their own new forever friends as a result of a visit to the Cat Café. The team have also raised thousands of dollars for Cat haven through the merchandise and café items on offer. Based on a concept from Taiwan, this carefully run social enterprise manages to make grabbing a coffee a feel-good, animal welfare-friendly experience – and you get some miaow-time for a cup of Kit-tea. Head online to order tickets to spend an hour with the resident cat family – slots are available every hour and although there are walk-ins available, spots regularly sell out.
