Brunswick Street’s first-ever cafe. A 70-year-old spaghetti beacon. World-famous pastries that have the whole city in a queue. Whether it’s the romance of a simple meal in a time-honoured landmark or a cutting-edge croissant laminated by an ex-aerodynamicist, these stalwarts hit the mark every time.

This category is one of our most loved entries in Good Food’s Essential Melbourne Cafes and Bakeries of 2025. Presented by T2, this guide celebrates the people and places that shape our excellent cafe and bakery scenes and includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 10 categories, including icons, those best for food, tea, coffee and matcha, and where to get the city’s best sweets, sandwiches and baked goods. (These reviews also live on theGood Food app, and are discoverable on the map.)

For those who’ve been to these before, maybe it’s time for a revisit. If you’ve never been, consider this your hit-list for the next few months.

Marios Cafe

Brunswick Street cafes come and go, but Marios is Fitzroyalty, nudging 40 and as effortlessly cool and unpretentious as ever. Nothing changes here: the great-value menu stuffed with Italian classics, the buzz and clatter, the high chance of spotting a local celeb, or the suited waiters, sometimes gruff, always great. Slide onto a coveted window stool and order perfectly jammy eggs Benedict or layered-up lasagne.

Good to know: You can’t book but expert waitstaff keep the tables turning and queue moving.

303 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, instagram.com/marios.fitzroy

Brunetti

When someone asks “What should I bring?” Brunetti has been the answer for 51 years and counting. Glossy cakes are stacked in baroque cabinets; eclairs, cannoli, slices and tartlets wink from their trays; and espresso machines hiss and rumble from early until late at night. There’s plenty more pastry competition in town now, but no one can match the behemoth that is Brunetti.

Good to know: There are now two arms of the family business, Oro and Classico. Both offer a head-spinning variety of sweets in big, brash surrounds.

Multiple locations, brunettioro.com.au, brunetticlassico.com.au

Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar

Is there a more iconic cafe than this charming 1950s capsule? The menu and decor have hardly changed, from the generous serves of saucy pastas to the red leather barstools and heritage-listed neon sign. Perch at the bar to watch white-shirted waitstaff slap down strong coffee, home-style cakes and slushy granitas – dispatching diners direct to mid-century Italy.

Must-order: There’s no written menu (besides a faded wooden board), but the lasagne (still the original recipe) and icy watermelon granita are crowd favourites.

66 Bourke Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/pellegrinisespressobar

Half Moon

This tiny takeaway shop in an old-school mall produces some of Melbourne’s best falafel. Egyptian-style – made with broad beans instead of chickpeas – they’re bright green, crisp-edged and best enjoyed in the Colibaba: a wrap of fried cauliflower, house-made baba ganoush and glowing pink pickled turnips. Tackle cravings by grabbing a tub of the raw falafel mix for home.

Good to know: There’s no indoor seating, but the tables in the mall are always packed with locals.

13 Victoria Street, Coburg

T. Cavallaro & Sons

What the Cavallaro family is able to churn out of this petite pasticceria, all while wearing a smile, is testament to the deep bonds that power this institution of the west. Customers come in for weekly orders of almond-meal biscuits weighed and packed into boxes. Others drive across town for cannoli with blistered crusts and smooth ricotta inside.

Good to know: Some items, such as rum baba and sfogliatelle pastries, are only available at weekends. Order ahead.

98 Hopkins Street, Footscray, tcavallaroandsons.com.au

Cibi

Melbourne’s original purveyor of Japanese breakfasts is still a fixture of the city’s mornings – and that’s not all. Its homewares shop has grown to encompass all the knives, cast-iron pots, soy-sauce dispensers and Japanese ceramics you could wish for, without crossing international borders. Plus, there’s a grocer for kombu, yuzu kosho and (sometimes) fresh produce.

Good to know: The traditional Japanese breakfast plate can be amped up with fermented soy beans, sour plum and more.

33-39 Keele Street, Collingwood, cibi.com.au

Monarch Cakes

With more than 90 years on the clock, this Polish-Jewish bakery is in a league of its own. The window heaves with Black Forest cakes, syrupy poppyseed slices and Polish cheesecake made to a century-old recipe. But the showstopper is the kuglehopf – a sweet, doughy crown marbled with dark chocolate, best enjoyed warm with a strong coffee.

Good to know: No holidays here – they’ve traded in St Kilda every single day since 1934.

103 Acland Street, St Kilda, monarchcakes.com.au

Lune

Most big cities are experiencing bakery mania, but Melbourne has been living through a golden age of pastry for more than a decade, largely thanks to Lune founder Kate Reid’s steadfast croissant obsession. Lune’s crisp yet pillowy croissants raised the bar for every other baker, with uncharted flavours that opened up a kaleidoscopic world of possibility. The adventures continue, here and interstate.

Good to know: On top of the classics, out-there monthly specials could mean peanut-pretzel croissants or “everything bagel” twists.

Multiple locations, lunecroissanterie.com

Patricia

The sky is blue, the earth is round, Patricia heaves – even after 14 years. More remarkably, the coffee is good every time. The austere menu (black, white or filter made using house-roasted beans) is the flipside to the cheery team working briskly, thriving on the buzz of tourists and regulars who will happily queue for an incomparable flat white and a treat from a top local bakery.

Good to know: You’ll be standing in a nook, spilling into the lane or perched on a milk crate.

493-495 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, patriciacoffee.com.au

Good Food’s Essential Melbourne Cafes and Bakeries of 2025, presented by T2, celebrates the people and places that shape our excellent cafe and bakery scenes and includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 10 categories, including icons, those best for food, tea, coffee and matcha, and where to get the city’s best sweets, sandwiches and baked goods. Download the Good Food app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store to discover what’s near you.