There are only so many ways to smash an avo, which is part of the reason cafes are less prone to swinging with trends than their restaurant cousins.

Also, diners tend to be less adventurous earlier in the day: they want what they want, and they want it the same tomorrow.

Even so, cafes do move with the times and bring the times with them. Here are some shifts, changes and themes we’re noticing now.

Elevated offerings

When people are careful with their spending, eating out is one of the first arenas to feel the pinch. And because people can generally manage to cook some oats or crack an egg at home, last year’s lavish cafe breakfast with all the extras might be reined into a paltry weekend coffee.

Cafes are responding to the “But I can cook that myself” brigade with dishes that − let’s be frank − you couldn’t, or at least won’t. That’s how we end up with brunches such as Clementine’s Scotch egg on a bed of beef Bourguignon in South Melbourne, the bruleed banana French toast at Glory-Us in Strathmore and Black Forest pancakes at Tinker in Northcote, all of them extremely good reasons to leave the house and the cornflakes behind.

American diners

We may one day become a republic and turn our back on Blighty, but we’re never going to let go of a fondness for American dining − with a Melbourne twist, of course.

We’re seeing it in nighttime venues spruiking red sauce Italo-Americana, a sudden surge in delis pushing pastrami on rye, and in a wave of retro diners. Some are delighting in a museum-quality replica approach − hello, Walrus in Brunswick − and others are taking elements of a classic genre and refashioning it for right here, right now.

That’s the approach at the CBD’s Operator Diner, which co-owner Randy Dhamanhuri says is about going back to “simple and basic … sometimes I just want my pancakes with butter and maple, filter coffee, no fuss. A diner is the right vehicle for that.”

But it’s Melbourrne: you can’t dole out any old dishwater. “We put a local touch with specialty coffee,” he says. “We know what the market wants.”

Asian

Asian fusion has been a dominant theme in Melbourne brunching for 15 years but there’s now an exciting focus on menus that lean confidently into fully fledged expressions of Asian cuisines.

Ondo and Moon Mart are doing Korean, Matta and Ima Asa Yoru are celebrating Japan, and Warkop is showcasing Indonesia between slices of Melbourne sourdough. Congee is the crossover dish: you’d expect to find it at Moon Mart and Roslyn Thai Cafe, but it also finds its way onto menus at Euro-style cafes such as Juniper.

What we’d love to write about next year: Indian breakfasts. The subcontinent has incredible morning dishes and a huge proportion of Melbourne cafes have Indian cooks on deck. Can’t these two facts come together in a rush of uttapams − gluten free, vegan, fermented, delicious, adaptable − on cafe menus?

Farm fresh

More cafes are name-checking farmers, showing a greater connection to produce, and crafting menus that are necessarily more responsive and dynamic than a 365-day-a-year eggs-and-avo carte.

Lumen People’s menu is largely driven by what’s popping off at Somerset Farm and Dog Creek Growers. “We want to buy from a few small farmers,” says co-owner Emma Sheahan. “It’s about relationships, having people alongside us feel like they are part of something greater, not a cog in a wheel.”

Some farms are integral to a cafe’s mission. Square One and Heide Cafe are part of the Common Ground Project regenerative farm ecosystem: they use the produce and return some profits.

Fenton Food and Wine has a similar web of connection, working with Tanaka Farm Project on a short supply chain and a closed loop.

Category crush

What is a cafe anyway? Many of our favourites have realised that they don’t turn into pumpkins when the sun goes down, so they’re staying open into the evening.

It’s partly because many restaurant chefs have made a lifestyle choice to work in cafes, but they still love flexing their snack and dinner muscles. It’s also canny business: you’re paying rent and rates and power for the fridges: it can make sense to stay open longer.

Carter Lovett locals are loving their weekend dinners, Chiaki and Ima Asa Yoru morph into sake-fuelled izakaya bars at night, Lumen People, Sunhands and Sucree turn into wine bars and Fenton Food and Wine is beloved for its Friday night dinner parties.