Blog Preston’s next food review series focuses on dog-friendly cafes and restaurants.  

Our first visit was to Rosemary On The Park, situated in the Pavilion on Moor Park Avenue; a small venue that becomes lively in the summer months. Dog owners can enjoy a walk around Preston’s oldest and largest parkland, which offers vast open green spaces and notable beauty spots.

You might even make your dog internet famous by teaching him to ride on a skateboard in the designated skatepark. Alternatively, your dog could teach you to give him a treat every time he puts one paw on your daughter’s skateboard until the treats run out, and then drag you to Rosemary On The Park where he thinks he’s still entitled to a bite of your sausage.   

Due to the pandemic all of the cafe’s tables were outside with plenty of space between them. There are bowls of water set out for thirsty dogs and I’m informed that customers and their dogs can now sit inside, as long as they order food. My daughter Ground Zero and I did a bit of dithering as we tried to figure out whether we should just sit down or wait for the busy staff to help us.

Review: Visiting The Green Frog at Preston Docks for dinner and a show

After a short time a waiter spotted us and set up a table and two chairs under a tree. That’s the point where things could have gone pear shaped as the chairs were the dainty folding type and I am not. My chair was also on a slight slope, so when I sat down it was touch and go whether the other customers would continue enjoying their serene meal or be put right off it by the sight of a screaming heap of white legs and nana knickers. Fortunately I have a low centre of gravity like a walnut whip, but anyone tall with a massive head would be in trouble. I’m looking at you, David Hasslehoff. 

Ground Zero agreed to let me swap seats with her, because she’s one of those people who can fall over in a cool way and still manage to jump back up with an endangered species of butterfly gently fluttering on one cheekbone.  

The menu had the usual choices of sandwiches, baked potatoes, salads and breakfasts. I chose a rosemary chicken, crispy bacon and avocado salad at £7.25. 

It looked excellent, contained a decent amount of chicken and bacon, and was served with plenty of homemade balsamic dressing. All of the flavours balanced well, and the addition of some chunky home-made croutons added enough bulk to make the salad a substantial main.

Ground Zero went for the English breakfast at £6.25, but asked that the mushrooms be swapped for a bigger portion of tomatoes. It also had an espresso cup of beans, a round of toast, one sausage, a perfectly poached egg and two rashers of crispy, good-quality bacon. A micropoint was deducted for not being given the choice to have white bread instead of brown. There was also the unexpected addition of a wholesome bunch of pea shoots perched on the plate like a vicar at a swingers party, but my daughter quickly slung it onto my salad before things got too weird.

The quantity of food on the plate might be insufficient for those with big appetites, as the chef had gone for quality rather than quantity. However, it was more than enough for GZ, who eventually gave up and plonked half a sausage onto my plate to blackmail the Vicar of Pea Shoot with its knowledge of his secrets. 

We were running out of time, so instead of having a dessert at the cafe we ordered a slice of lemon drizzle cake for £2 and a giant cookie at £1.50 to go, all homemade. We weren’t keen on the cookie as it was crunchy all the way through and was too sugary for us. However, the lemon drizzle cake was fabulously lemony and I would go back to Rosemary on the Park for that alone.

Have you “accidentally” found yourself at a swingers party? Let us know in the comments