What happens when there’s a great bakery, cafe or coffee stand, without a brick-and-mortar? It ends up here, on this list of fantastic vendors. There’s a little something from each best-of category, from the bagel purveyor stationed beside a Georges Hall servo, open daily; to a plant-based bakery powerhouse, which pops up sporadically around Sydney.

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 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. (These reviews also live on theGood Food app, and are discoverable on the map.) Keep an eye on their socials for updates.

Ard

Do you have a penchant for beautiful baked goods and an hour or two to spare next weekend? Then it may be worth packing a book and joining the line for Ard, a pop-up plant-based bakery. The menu is extensive and delicious, regardless of dietary requests, but it’s the originality which keeps people in the queue. Whether it’s a pistachio praline scroll rolled with toffee gingerbread cookie dough, or the coconut rhubarb olive oil cake spiked with sumac, no one else is making treats like this in Sydney. Check Ard’s Instagram for the stall’s changing locations.

Good to know: This is a one-woman-show with Middle Eastern flair.

instagram.com/ardsydney_

Bobo Bakery

These are some of Sydney’s best cinnamon buns, but to score one you’ll first have to find the back of the queue. Whether at the Bondi, Paddington or Rosebery Cannery markets, lines are comically long by mid-morning. Stick with it (it moves fast), and you’ll understand the hype around the cinnamon rolls: they’re remarkably fluffy and moist, and fragrant with comforting spice.

Good to know: There are about six flavours of cinnamon bun, ranging from sweet-salty pistachio, to gochujang and cheddar.

124 Gardeners Road, Kingsford and various market locations, bobobakery.com

Elevate Kiosk

This is the transient outpost of Seven Hills cafe Elevate Specialty Coffee, where baristas are serious about Australian-roasted single origins. It’s parked among the mirrored glass office blocks of Blacktown’s CBD, offering workers a welcome alternative to the national chains dominating the nearby shopping centre. Sandwiches (like the pickle-heavy, pastrami-packed Reuben) are toasted to order and most pastries are made in-house.

Good to know: After a mid-afternoon snack? Chances are you might get a discount.

81/85 Flushcombe Road, Blacktown, elevatespecialtycoffee.com

Roman’s Deli

Roman’s Deli poses an existential threat to the servo sandwiches in Georges Hall. Why settle for soggy white bread when, next door, there’s a food truck blasting hip hop and serving stacked bagels, made-to-order with everything from tender fried chicken and wagyu pastrami, to a tiramisu cream-cheese schmear? And why sit in the car, when you could sip ceremonial grade matcha on a cushioned milk crate, contemplating the truck’s vast collection of artificial greenery?

Good to know: Roman’s is now weatherproof with a covered dining area.

250 Henry Lawson Drive, Georges Hall, romansdeli.square.site

Yummy Yummy Knafeh

This knafeh is a textural treat: finely chopped pistachios and tangled shreds of golden, fried kataifi (filo pastry) layered atop soft, slightly salty Akkawi cheese. Mohammed Zarqa, owner-operator of the Yummy Yummy stall, has it down to a fine art. A Palestinian family recipe soaked with sugar syrup is served with smiles and showmanship, each slice slowly pulled from the hot pan, stretching strings of the molten cheese skyward.

Good to know: Zarqa will be atVivid Fire Kitchen until June 14.

instagram.com/yummyyummyknafeh

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.