Previous SlideNext Slide

These are our some of our favourite places in Sydney specialising in sugary treats, whether they’re bakeries best-known for banging chiffon cakes, or cafes with ma’amoul better than your mum’s. Go on, you’ve earnt it.

This list is part of Good Food’s Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2025. Presented by T2, the guide celebrates the people and places that shape our cafe and bakery scenes and includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 11 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.)

Dear Florence

Dear Florence, a patisserie helmed by former Aria head pastry chef Aoife Noonan, is like a jewellery store where you can eat the merchandise. Each cake or tart resembles a splendid brooch or sculpture, carved, modelled, shaped and cooked somehow from eggs, flour, fruit, sugar and chocolate.

Must order: The Dream, a cloud-like cake of vanilla sponge and mascarpone mousse, topped with flower petals and a droplet of rosewater gel.

230 Sussex Street, Sydney, p48.com.au

Khanom House

Self-taught Thai baker Yeen Veerasenee is a market stall success story. Buoyed by the popularity of his matcha Basque cheesecakes, Veerasenee opened a brick-and-mortar in a light-filled corner of Chippendale. His pastry cabinet is a sight to behold – a tour-de-force of strawberry shortcake, billowing with layers of vanilla frosting; pastel green pandan sponge, rolled around subtly sweet coconut cream; and golden-crumbed Ukrainian honeycake, a fluffy, perennial favourite.

Good to know: There’s barista-made coffee to pair with your cake.

15 Meagher Street, Chippendale, instagram.com/khanomhouse.syd

Kuki

In a world of cookies sprinkled and stuffed to the nines, this sleek little shop is all about the simple joy of classic, freshly baked biscuit. Flavours range from caramelised brown butter and chocolate chip, to the salty-sweet combo of black sesame and white chocolate. Brought to you by popular Strathfield ice-cream chain Duo Duo, it also offers velvety soft serve on the side.

Good to know: It’s open late every Friday and Saturday, for those post-dinner cravings.

9/18 Steam Mill Lane, Haymarket, kuki.au

Moon Phase

This all-white laneway cafe, a short walk from the Metro, has the classics covered with excellent croissants and kouign-amanns. But it’s the visually striking specials, drawing on traditional Korean flavours, which make a visit worthwhile. Case in point, the Busan swirl: a viennoiserie version of street-food snack hotteok filled with gooey brown sugar.

Good to know: Moon Phase roasts its own coffee beans, with rotating seasonal blends.

545 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, moonphase.au

Pantry Story

Parramatta Road has livened up a little since cosy bakery-cafe Pantry Story opened last year. Most people come for the evolving menu of Asian-inspired sweet treats: a decadent tabletop procession of electric green pandan mochi cookies, miso butterscotch croissants and wobbling chocolate panna cotta capybaras.

Good to know: Dine-in seating is limited to a few stools and covered milk crates.

336 Parramatta Road, Stanmore, instagram.com/pantrystory_sydney

Shadow Baking

A trio of Messina chefs have pivoted from gelato to pastry, bringing the same bold creativity to croissants, tarts and scrolls. Danishes are regularly on display: golden, flaky nests filled with confit tomatoes, fanned with caramelised fruits or topped up with a thai milk tea sabayon. Just like the Messina mothership, new specials are created weekly and the pastries sell out within hours.

Best for: Croissant dough, done differently.

243 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, shadowbaking.com

Shortstop Coffee and Donuts

It’s been nearly 10 years since Shortstop opened its first Sydney outpost, and the Barangaroo store still occasionally sells out. So, what’s the secret? It’s the discerning approach to doughnuts in their forms. Flavours are seasonal (pumpkin spice, apple pie) and never too-sweet, with subtle nods to new trends (strawberry matcha, Thai milk tea) and a solid selection of classics (cinnamon sugar with cardamom, Mexican hot chocolate).

Must order: The Australian honey and sea salt cruller has become a staple.

Shop 3/23 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo, short-stop.com.au

Smeed

Never tried ma’amoul before? Well, you’re in for a lovely time. The dense buttery biscuits, filled with everything from dates to strawberry marshmallows, are the specialty at this family-run Lebanese cafe. You could get a six-pack to go, but it’s better to settle in for a chat. The hospitality is warm, the coffee is strong, and the pistachio ma’maoul becomes magical when warmed up, served with spoonfuls of clotted cream.

Best for: Modernised Middle Eastern treats.

422 Burwood Road Belmore, instagram.com/smeed.almaamoul

Sweet Beirut

A chandelier-lit jewel of southern Sydney, displaying Lebanese treats like edible art. Rows of glistening baklava. Sugar-dusted ma’amoul. Golden knafeh encased in glass. Among them, harder-to-find desserts like mafroukeh (crisp caramelised semolina layered beneath and ashta clotted cream) and halawet el jibn (sweet cheese rolls with rose petal jam). The quality bests many of its inner city-based rivals and for a fraction of the cost.

Good to know: Open until midnight on weekends.

485 Forest Road, Bexley, instagram.com/sweetbeirutt

Yin Viennoiserie

Now, here’s an inviting corner of Glebe, with perfect eclairs, individual Saint Honores and decadent pastries topped with the ripest of ripe figs when in season. The raspberry matcha tart receives the most social media love with its dense centre asking to be pulled apart and filmed, but the croissants deserves your attention too. Some pastries are so shiny and smooth you can almost see your reflection. This is high precision stuff.

Good to know: There’s limited seating if you want to chill with a coffee.

13/131-145 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, instagram.com/yin_viennoiserie

Good Food’s Essential Sydney 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 11 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.