Coffee, tea, onigiri? The Sydney cafe isn’t what it used to be (plus 20 that are acing it right now)

“People come into Kurumac and say, ‘You’re not really a cafe’,” says Eugene Leung. “And I just shrug and say, ‘What’s a cafe?’ ”

He has a point. Many of us have grown up with very set ideas as to what a cafe should be. It has to have an espresso machine and serve coffee. It has to have tables and chairs, and a menu that has an egg and bacon roll in some form or other. We have to be able to meet friends there, work on our laptop, read a book or just goof off there. That’s a cafe.

Kurumac, in a Victorian shopfront on Addison Road in Marrickville, has an espresso machine and serves coffee. But it also serves ramen, onigiri, Japanese salmon congee and green tea gelato shakes. There is no egg and bacon roll, and the toast is fluffy, soft shokupan (Japanese milk bread).

“No sun-dried tomatoes; no avocado on toast,” Leung says. “We just stick to our guns. I talk to (chef) Jun Okamatsu and ask him what his mum used to make for him to eat, then we do that.”

So what is a cafe, in 2023? With the entire hospitality scene redefining itself in the past few years, a cafe can identify as anything it wants. It may be just a bakery counter with a couple of stools, an art gallery, pancake shop, salad bar, or plant-based and gluten-free eatery; all of which appear in this year’s list of 20 best and new.

Because that’s the thing about cafes. There are a lot of them – 26,680 across Australia in 2023, according to IBIS World. It makes better business sense for a small, tight operation with a lot of competition to specialise in doing one thing well.

If they all tried to give us what they think we want (bacon and egg rolls), then we’re heading straight for single-shot, skim milk, lukewarm mediocrity.

These shifting definitions have liberated cafes from ticking the coffee-and-cake box, turning them into “third spaces” (that essential place outside both home and work) that offer more interesting food, sparkier service, and more outside dining opportunities than many a restaurant.

Spicing up breakfast

With so many cafe owners and chefs riffing on their Asian heritage, a cafe breakfast is anything but a yawn. Check out the rendang toasties at Padre in Paddington, the shokupan toast with yuzu marmalade at Pillar in Burwood, the little hand-held onigiri parcels of deliciousness at Parami in Surry Hills, and the tamago egg burger at A.P Bakery. In Surry Hills, Sandoitchi has doubled its sit-down dining (if you can find it), and Tenacious Croissant bakes a life-changing miso custard tart.

And now a word from our roaster

Coffee roasters open their own cafes to showcase their philosophy as much as to sell their beans. It’s a sector that has never been stronger in Sydney, from OG industry leaders such as the 20-year-old Single O cafe in Surry Hills, Campos (Newtown) and Mecca (Alexandria), to up-from-Melbourne’s Genovese Coffee House (Alexandria) and the new Padre Coffee (Paddington), a shiny one-stop-shop of coffee geekery. See also Gypsy Espresso, Primary, Veneziano, Reformatory, Little Marionette, Sample, Reuben Hills, Gabriel, Coffee Supreme and more.

Gaining ground

Some of the best cafe experiences to be had in Sydney are 25 kilometres and more from the inner city. They start by serving their own communities so well that people are drawn to them from a much wider pool. See the dynamic Misc. cafe in Parramatta Park that doubles as a wedding venue and triples as a romantic restaurant for candle-lit dinners.

Our Father in Burraneer echoes the success of the sunny, produce-driven Jack Gray cafe a few kilometres away at Gray’s Point, being a similarly light, bright, happy place (and it does our best bacon and egg roll of 2023). “I just love the daily ritual of coming together at a cafe,” owner Jerome Manion says.

Then there’s Henri Marc in Penrith, which turns the big 10 this year. Clad in recycled woods and hanging tree ferns, it stars an extremely uplifting menu (cinnamon toast!). Founders Aaron and Sophia Bernecki have always pushed against the strict definitions of a cafe, recently opening a nearby wine bar, Allan Grammar.

BYO dog

You can’t take your pooch to Quay, Saint Peter or Spice Temple, but you can to a cafe. Tails are wagging at Kaska Eatery in Darlinghurst; on the beach at Glory Days in Bondi; Outfield in Ashfield; Old Gold in Chippendale, Apache Salute in Paddington and more.

So here’s to cafes that choose to be the best versions of themselves. If that means matcha lattes, Bloody Mary cocktails, and two stools in the sunny laneway, that’s great, we’re open to all good things.

But we’ll always have a soft spot for the tiny barista-owned corner cafe, like the new Berto’s, which just opened in Surry Hills with excellent Gypsy Espresso coffee and tables in the sun. The cafe, as we have always known it, will endure.