50 essential cafe experiences

Adriano Zumbo - interview

Split a split at Eathouse Diner

Why order eggs when you can have ice cream? This Redfern café does a banana split with dulce de leche and a little umbrella. If you venture into the toilets, you'll see the walls thoroughly decoupaged with nudie pics. 306 Chalmers St, Redfern 2016. (02 8084 9479). 

Snorkel-stalk Bluey the Groper at Clovelly then order a three quarter flat white at Ruby's Diner

There are few people in town who deliver on the coffee front like Ed Devlin and the team at Ruby's Diner and there are even fewer places we'd rather be after a dip at the beach. Shop 1, 173-179 Bronte Rd, Waverley 2024. (02 9386 5964).

Ease into the weekend with a proper fry-up at Revolver

The big breakfast is a thing of wonder: a veritable feast of house-made baked beans, mushrooms, bacon and pork sausage topped with two baked eggs, served in a cast-iron pan. 291 Annandale St, Annandale 2038. (02 9555 4727).

Line up for a ristretto at Grind after a surf

The queues are snaking out the door and with good reason - this could be the best coffee in Cronulla. The café is the size of a bug catcher and most of it is taken up by a titanic coffee machine that gets thrashed day in, day out. 6 Surf Rd, Cronulla 2230. (02 9568 5535).

Start the day with a bowl of beef noodle soup at Pho An

An serves one thing only: Vietnamese noodle soup. This Hanoi brekky staple is thin slices of beef in nourishing beef broth topped with coriander, basil, chilli, bean sprouts and finished with a squeeze of lime or lemon. 27 Greenfield Pde, Bankstown 2200. (02 9796 7826).

Take supper for breakfast at Bar H

Is there a more attractive phrase in the English language (apart from maybe breakfast for supper)? At this excellent café/restaurant you can start your day with thin, pale slices of lardo on garlic toast. 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills 2010. (02 9280 1980). 

Take a blindfolded cupping class at Campos

Learn to appreciate coffee with your eyes closed in a dark room in the new cupping room at Campos. Bore your friends with every minor detail of your experience with single origin Ethiopian coffee beans, or whatever. It's coffee for fetishists. 193 Missenden Rd, Newtown 2042. (02 9516 3361).  

Have the breakfast degustation at Kazbah

Why settle for bacon and eggs when you can get your friends together and spend the morning eating a three-course brekkie for a mere $25 a person? 379 Darling St, Balmain 2041. (02 9555 7067). 

Book your own private Idaho at Café Sopra

It's the cheapest chef's table you're likely to find in town. Hire the private courtyard for ten or so of your friends for $60 a head and spend the day eating chef Andy Bunn's amazing Italian/geezer food. Upstairs, Fratelli Fresh, 7 Danks St, Waterloo 2017. (02 9699 3174). 

Slam a macchiato and get an enormous cookie to go at Plan B

These enormous cookies are filled with chunks of chocolate and nuts. It's like eating a giant sweet brick with your morning coffee. 204 Clarence St, Sydney 2000. (02 9283 3450). 

More café experiences

 Go to 1–10,11–20, 21–30,31–40,41–50

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