The last time Good Food published a comprehensive guide to Sydney cafes it was 2014. Back then, a good cafe meant good coffee, a sit-down brekkie and, more often than not, an inner-city postcode. It was a sunny idyll of creamy flat whites, avocado on sourdough and “no worries, mate” service, and it continues to be one of Australia’s most significant culinary exports.

From that strong foundation, Sydney’s cafe scene has flourished outwards – strengthening as it has stretched across suburbs, cultures and new generations. Brekkie might look a bit different in today’s collection of more than 100 reviews visited anonymously that make up Good Food’s Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2025, presented by T2, but it’s for the better. (See the full collection of guide reviews here, including all 11 categories.)

Take matcha, for example. In the early ’10s, the finely ground green tea had just begun to edge its way into popular dining culture outside of Japan, and if you wanted the real deal in Sydney, there was just one place to go: Cafe Cre Asion in the CBD.

Owner-operator Yu Sasaki opened the tiny eight-seater on Alberta Street in 2011, using matcha to make lattes, macarons and chocolate fondant cakes. One food blogger called it “quaint”. It was pioneering.

“I wanted to open a cafe which was totally different, utilising my own background of growing up in a small rural town … in Japan,” Sasaki says.

“I could see the huge potential in matcha.”

It took a while to take off, Sasaki says. Customers were curious but hesitant, and the cafe sold only one or two matcha lattes a day.

Today, you’re hard-pressed to find a cafe in Sydney that isn’t awash with matcha – whisked into milky green lattes, layered atop strawberry jam or baked into pastries. It’s served in translucent takeaway cans at Harrys Bondi, with cold foam and raspberry syrup in Menai (Steam Brothers Espresso), and in thick slices of chiffon cake in Mona Vale (Cafe Monaka).

In its ubiquity, matcha became the giant green light signalling a greater cultural shift – away from a single standard or locale, and towards the deliciously diverse.

“Waves of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa have brought their own flavours, traditions and hospitality to Sydney, making the city’s cafe scene richer,” says chef and 2024 Good Food Guide’s Legend award winner Kylie Kwong, who has delved further into western Sydney cuisine since starting her role as an associate for Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta last year.

Kwong says Circa Espresso, the Parramatta cafe opened by Aykut Sayan in 2010, is a standout example of what happens when passion, heritage and community come together. The menu gives a “heartfelt nod” to Sayan’s Turkish roots.

“Circa showed that western Sydney could set new standards, inspiring other multicultural cafes and giving local communities a sense of pride … [it helped] redefine what a ‘Sydney cafe’ can be.”

Sydneysiders have traditionally wanted their creamy scrambled eggs a la Bill Granger’s bills cafe, but these days we also love them doused in Japanese curry sauce as at Pina in Potts Point. We revere the golden loaves of sourdough at Bronte bakery Iggy’s, but we can’t stop thinking about the soft pandesal bread rolls at Tita in Marrickville, either. And we’re just as likely to jostle for a table at Single O in Surry Hills as we are Yum Yum Bakery in Guildford.

Not convinced? Follow the crowds. On any given Sunday, you can expect to wait the same amount of time for an Italian deli sandwich at Raineri’s in Five Dock as you can for a roast pork banh mi at Banh Mi Phuong 18 in Bankstown (about half an hour, on a good day). There’s a two-hour queue for a slice of plant-based pistachio baklava at pop-up bakery Ard, and you’re dreaming if you thought you could score a pandan brioche roll from Shadow Baking in Darlinghurst after 11am.

As for coffee? While industry stalwarts such as Artificer in Surry Hills broke ground with all manner of beans and brewing methods 10 years ago, standards have since lifted citywide.

“It doesn’t matter where you live any more, everyone understands good coffee,” says Najib Haddad, second generation owner of Yum Yum Bakery.

Yum Yum is a family-owned business that’s been serving Lebanese food to its community for 35 years, and in 2019 it expanded its offering to include sit-down share plates and barista-made specialty coffee.

“That was when we started to see cafe culture, as you’d see it in Surry Hills, venture out west,” he says.

Nowadays, regulars are seated next to first-timers from the North Shore or the eastern suburbs, their tables filled with puffy wood-fired bread, pomegranate-studded fattoush and lamb shawarma. Haddad says social media “massively” broadened Yum Yum’s reach.

A social media shout-out from food blogger Adrian Widjy was a game-changer for Mika Kazato (one-time head chef at bills, Surry Hills), who opened Sydney’s first specialist onigiri cafe, Parami, in 2022.

“Sandwiches were everywhere, and I wasn’t sure if onigiri would work, so I started making just 50 pieces each day,” Kazato says. The concept took off after Widjy featured Parami in a TikTok video. Now, Kazato sells up to 600 onigiri each day, and there are more than five other onigiri cafes in Sydney.

Social media bloggers are looking for venues with a point of difference, says Kevin La, better known as SydneyFoodBoy (also a Good Food contributor). La uses TikTok and Instagram to showcase food diversity across greater Sydney, encouraging upwards of 250,000 followers to visit places such as Tony’s Bakery in Cabramatta, or Moon & Back cafe in Rosebery.

“I’d like to think I helped in creating a positive shift in people’s appreciation for [culturally diverse] foods,” La says.

“We’re at a great place right now. There’s good coffee, good drinks and good food. I’d honestly say Sydney’s cafe scene is the best in the world.”

Good Food’s Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2025, presented by T2, celebrates the people and places that shape our cafe and bakery scenes. It includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 11 categories, including icons, 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.