The Best Cafes in Melbourne in 2026
How does your favourite Melbourne cafe stack up against these brunch-filled, coffee-slinging, bloody mary-pouring haunts?
The Best Cafes in Melbourne in 2026
How does your favourite Melbourne cafe stack up against these brunch-filled, coffee-slinging, bloody mary-pouring haunts?
It's an undisputed fact that Melbourne has one of the best cafe cultures in the world. Whether you're after an early morning, pre-work coffee and pastry, a leisurely, slow brunch to be enjoyed while flicking through the newspaper, or an indulgent, artery-clogging brekkie desperately needed to cure a hangover, Melbourne has a cafe for every need and situation.
Walk into nearly any local haunt, and you'll find baristas serving up excellent coffee and chefs sliding creative brunch dishes across the pass. Being spoilt for choice can make it hard to decide where to try next. But worry not, with our handy guide of the best brekkie in Melbourne, you won't go astray. You'll find everything from yoghurt parfaits to fried chicken and waffles, two-toned, cold foam coffees to lobster benedicts, Japanese set breakfasts to fluffy ricotta hotcakes.
Recommended reads:
The Best Breakfast in Melbourne
The Best Coffee in Melbourne
The Best Bakeries in Melbourne
The Best Bottomless Brunch in Melbourne
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At the heart of this cosy space is a focus on community and creating an inviting space for all. Open House is a dream brought to life for India Anderson and Diego Leon, who have always wanted to build “their own little corner of Melbourne…to welcome everybody.” As part of their welcoming and inclusive ethos, they want everyone to find something they love to eat, regardless of any dietary needs.
The menu is concise — Diego wants to focus on quality rather than quantity. On toast, choose between folded eggs with pickles, braised mushrooms with goat’s cheese, or avocado with nori and tahini cream. The miso egg sandwich with Japanese pickles has quickly become a house favourite, alongside the roast chicken version with sesame mayo and cabbage. If you’re skipping the bread, consider a braised beef brisket bowl with bok choy and rice, zucchini fritters with couscous and harissa, or smoked trout with pickled ginger and miso mayo. Open House is quickly becoming a community hub for the neighbourhood, thanks to its laid-back atmosphere and sunlit space. Come one, come all, from early morning coffees to last drinks, make yourself at home at Open House.
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The minds behind Terror Twilight, Convoy, Tinker and Hi-Fi — Ben Argentino, Bec Moore and Kieran Spiteri — know how to cafe in Melbourne. They’ve figured out the magic algorithm to make a successful breakfast and lunch spot, and are now taking it one step further with Ophelia.
Here, right on the Westgarth end of Northcote’s High Street, the team runs Ophelia as a somewhat classic cafe in the morning before switching things up as the day goes on — becoming more of a wine bar and long lunch destination. The team describes the menu as not quite being a classic breakfast nor your usual lunch, but instead filling the space between these mealtimes. You can mix and match dishes from both sections of the menu to create something that more closely resembles whatever dining situation you prefer — either pairing it with coffee, house sodas, cocktails, mocktails or wine.
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The Midas touch. It’s a thing, and the team behind Top Paddock and Higher Ground most definitely have it — in the hospitality scene anyway. The team are responsible for many award-winning, crowd-attracting cafes with incredible coffee and food on offer. One of these is the perennial favourite The Kettle Black.
Creative takes on expected dishes may include the likes of chilli prawn scrambled eggs with sambal and cashew cream, or a pastrami benedict with pickled jalapeños. For a virtuous start to the day, you can’t go past the chia, flax and almond granola with yoghurt, and seasonal fruit, which proves that clean eating can taste great and look really good, too.
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It ain’t easy competing with the excellent cafes already dotted along Gertrude Street, but Archie’s All Day manages to be busy every day of the week, and not surprisingly, especially on weekends. This is when the crowds get a little rowdier, pairing their poached eggs with rounds of mimosas (there are several different varieties to work your way through) and bloody marys — our favourite being the Dirty Mary, which comes with tequila, chipotle and sweet vermouth.
But this isn’t a booze-only spot. It’s also the perfect place to hide out on a lazy morning, reading in the window or out on the street while tucking into bites like fried chicken on waffles, chill scrambled eggs, ricotta hotcakes and prawn toast.
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With a luxurious yet welcoming blue and white interior and boundless natural light flooding in from two walls of uninterrupted windows, Middletown Prahran is a brunch venue designed to relax, inspire and rejuvenate.
And its all-day breakfast menu is an absolute banger. The Big Breakfast is a crowd favourite. It features chilli scrambled eggs, sausages, streaky bacon, hash browns, roasted tomatoes and tomato relish on sourdough toast — leaving you well and truly satisfied. Substantial lunch options range from a chicken and avocado sanga to a beef burger with hashbrowns to a selection of salads.
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Dua Bakehouse, situated within the Collingwood Yards precinct, is a bakery and cafe that blends Southeast Asian flavours with European pastry techniques. Since opening in early 2025, the understated yet aesthetically pleasing space has garnered a loyal following of locals and visitors seeking out two-toned iced drinks and the famous fluffy shokupan.
A daily selection of cake slices, breads and pastries greets you when you enter, and may include the likes of chocolate fudge cake, chunky cookies and Scandinavian cakes with a signature Raymond twist. What sets Dua apart from Raya is its specialty breads. Shiopans — buttery, salted bread rolls — come filled with a selection of savoury and sweet options ranging from Chinese pork jerky with pork floss, to miso salmon with wasabi mayo cabbage, and even a take on a croque madame. A small dine-in menu features thick slices of airy shokupan served with butter and preserves, kaya toast with a runny egg, and brûlée french toast. In keeping with the trends, you can find matcha in all forms at Dua, such as a malted matcha strawberry iced drink, a matcha banoffee cream pie, and a doughy white chocolate and matcha cookie.
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Beautiful Jim Key, situated in Jewell Station Village, calls itself a neighbourhood cafe and luncheonette inspired by the “fantastic and the curious.” The venue’s namesake is, surprisingly, an early 20th century performing horse, famous for his intelligence and tricks.
The menu plays into the venue’s ethos of whimsy and joy. For brekkie, there’s French toast with Montenegro, blood plum and crème fraiche, congee with shiitake and egg or scallops, and curried soft-boiled eggs with golden mango chutney. There’s also a broccoli toasted sandwich with pecorino, chilli and anchovies, or a traditional big breakfast with sausage, bacon, beans, tomato and eggs. Come lunch, the menu shifts to a selection of large and small plates, primed for a cocktail or a glass of wine. Start with Appellation oysters with cultured butter and hot sauce, black pepper salami with guindillas and baguette and njuda gougeres with thyme honey.
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Sunhands had big shoes to fill, taking over the space that was home to much-loved Ima Project Café, but it’s more than earned its keep with its combination of stunning all-day fare and sun-drenched, earthy interiors. Sunhands straddles the line between café and wine bar, transitioning from one into the other on select days
Small-scale, local producers and vegetables from Keilor’s Day’s Walk Farm are prioritised in the construction of the dynamic menu, which can range from the signature ‘pick and mix’ Sunhands plate chock full of seasonal produce and dippy eggs with soldiers during the day to oysters, pickled octopus and cured fish come sundown.
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Carlton, coffee and cocktails. A fearsome combo that viral cafe Good Measure nails. During the daylight hours, this Lygon Street space plays host to those in search of the precious bean juice, but when the sun sets, it trades coffee for cocktails. If you visit during the day, be prepared to face a line. Many patrons are likely to be lining up for one particular specialty treat: the Mont Blanc.
Grab a creative coffee of your choosing and a pastry, perhaps a spiced, sweet cinnamon babka, or a slice of cheesecake or a thick sando and you’ll be set.
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In leafy Kensington, cafes are found at every turn and give the area its distinctive village-like feel. Yet, even surrounded by competition, Local Folk is — true to name — a favourite amongst locals. Occupying a corner spot that used to be the town’s local corner store, you’ll find fresh, modern cafe cuisine with always reliable coffee.
The Kenso brekkie roll is one the cafe’s most popular items and is as great on-the-go as it is for dining in. It’s made with the usual breakfast suspects, including egg, bacon, house-made relish, jack cheddar and spinach — and wrapped up in a toasted pide for a bit of flair.
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Located next to a beautiful strip of green grass and filled with floor-to-ceiling windows, it does have its own touch of the great outdoors. The interior of Top Paddock is beautiful and light, with a real sophistication that not many cafes have. It’s a large space offering small tables, communal tables, outdoor seating, and even bar seating where you can watch the baristas at work. Speaking of coffee, it is pumping out its custom blends made from specialty coffee beans sourced from the world’s best producers.
You will, of course, find your staples of toast, granolas and eggs any way you like. More unexpected combinations may include mushrooms with truffled straciatella and crispy chilli oil, a brekkie salad with eggplant cream and broccolini, or roast lamb with green chilli labne.
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Darling Group is best known for opening and acquiring some of Melbourne’s top cafes (Higher Ground, Top Paddock, The Terrace, Kettle Black), while also, more recently,, branching out into the restaurant scene (Token and Stringers). Cheri is one of its more recent additions, an all-day eatery located right across from South Melbourne Market.
Darling Group’s Executive Pastry Chef Michael Germanos is making sure Cheri is home to incredible pastries, cakes and bread, made on-site every morning and sold exclusively here and across all of Darling Group’s other venues. It’s giving full bakery energy throughout the morning, while also serving up an all-day dining menu that covers most of your breakfast and lunch bases. Cheri has certainly made its mark as one of Melbourne’s best cafes.
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On a sunny Chapel Street corner, Abacus has managed to nail that all-day eatery vibe that often proves so elusive. It’s a lofty, leafy space that’s bright and charming by day, and the seasonal food menu continues to draw crowds. A great deal of thought has gone into sourcing local produce, from fresh fruit and veg to meat and seafood.
Drinks are also given plenty of love at Abacus. A selection of specialty coffees includes Tiramisu lattes, iced mango matchas, and lemon myrtle iced teas. But if a boozy cafe vibe is what you’re after, you’re also in for a treat. Grab one of the sun-drenched seats looking out on Chapel Street and do some proper people-watching with a Kakadu Rose spritz in one hand, an espresso martini in the other.
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Northcote’s Tinker is yet another notch in the belt of the crew behind Convoy, Hi Fi and Terror Twilight. These Melbourne cafes are slinging some of the best breakfasts in Melbourne, and Tinker is absolutely no exception.
Come weekends, the few outdoor tables lining High Street are filled with dog owners catching up over coffee, while the large, light-filled indoor space is always buzzing. Head into the courtyard out back, and you’ll find even more pups, plus plenty of boozy brunch lovers hitting the bloody marys and Aperol spritzes alongside brilliant breakfast dishes that change regularly.
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Say what you want about Melbourne’s hyped-up cafe culture, but some things just work. And sometimes they work really well — at least, that’s the case of Proud Mary in Collingwood. Even though it opened way, way back in 2009, Proud Mary still knows how to draw a crowd.
Even with many new Melbourne cafes coming and going through the years, this Collingwood fixture has continued to stand tall and proud. Perhaps it’s the coffee it roasts, which comes from all around the world, or maybe it’s the solid brunch menu. Most likely, it’s the stellar combination of the two. You don’t become a Melbourne stalwart for nothing.
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Named after the symbol (and atomic number) for gold on the periodic table, the team behind this ambitious eatery have certainly gone for gold in every aspect of its production. The menu at Au79 — one of the very best cafes in Melbourne — represents an imaginative approach to food, twisting familiar brunch dishes into something new.
Seasonal favourites include the likes of kimchi scrambled eggs with caramelised onion and sweet corn, smoked heirloom tomato toast with whipped basil ricotta, and a yuzu prawn roll with tobiko mayo.
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When you think about the beginnings of Melbourne’s third-wave coffee movement, it probably dates back to St Ali. Not just a boutique, local roaster of some of Melbourne’s best beans, St Ali is also a perennial favourite industrial-style cafe on a South Melbourne back street that has been serving brunch as good as its brew for as long as we can remember.
Despite the saturation of Melbourne’s cafe scene and the stiff competition from local coffee roasters, St Ali has survived the movement and remains a pure Melbourne institution. This goes to show that in this town, good coffee and consistently good food get you a long, long way.
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From the team behind A Minor Place, Wide Open Road on Brunswick’s Barkly Street offers much more than the unassuming shop front suggests. With the subtle signage and brick finish, the place comes to life as soon as you enter the door.
On top of the cafe space, Wide Open Road has its own roastery, cupping room and green bean storage. From here comes some of Melbourne’s best coffee. But the best cafes in Melbourne do much more than simply serve damn good coffee. Great food is also essential, and at Wide Open Road, you’re spoilt for choice. A crowd favourite is the Turkish eggs — some of the city’s best — with roasted peppers, wilted spinach, herbed yoghurt and apple-chilli butter. Or go for the loaded avo toast with heirloom tomatoes, Danish feta, charred corn and soft herbs. There is also an excellent selection of burgers, toasties and mains that span smoked salmon bowls, brekkie bacon baps and fried halloumi toasties.
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The Melbourne cafe scene reeled when Carlton’s Ima Project Cafe closed at the beginning of 2023 — but this spot was not down for long. A few months later, it respawned in Brunswick under the new name Ima Asa Yoru. And the Japanese cafe only came back bigger and better.
This popular spot not only serves up breakfast and lunch, but also heroes, izakaya eats for dinner and has its own grocer next door. But we are here to focus on the Japanese cafe fare. Fans of the old spot will be glad to know the signature teishoku, a Japanese set meal of rice, miso soup, pickles and fish, still lives on in Brunswick, alongside a host of other set meals and standalone dishes such as Japanese rice porridge and filled onigiri.
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From the team behind the ever popular Collingwood coffee haunt, Proud Mary, comes Stagger Lee’s, which sits on a section of Brunswick Street where local foodies are spoilt for choice. But Stagger Lee’s is where you come for a hot cup of joe. With single-origin espresso, filter and cold drip varieties on the menu, you’re always assured of a good-tasting brew.
The all-day menu includes sweet options such as crispy honey toast with roasted oranges and vanilla marscapone, and a caveman granola with almond milk and seasonal fruit. Hearty savoury options span Mexican breakfast tacos, corn bread with chilli scramble, smoked salmon and avocado hash, and even a fried chicken burger with double smoked bacon and pickled jalapeño slaw.
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Code Black has expanded its coffee empire from its flagship cafe in Brunswick to outposts in North Melbourne, the CBD, Southbank and South Melbourne. In Brunswick you’ll find its roastery HQ — where the team is perpetually roasting ethically-sourced beans and teaching the next generation of baristas how to extract the perfect shot.
But Code Black is more than just its coffee. Head here any day of the week for an excellent selection of brunch items. Get around the ricotta hotcakes, or lemongrass pork roll, with Vietnamese saté and chicken liver pâté, shredded herbs and pickled carrots — an absolute winner of a dish. Long boozy brunches are an option here too, with a long list of wines that rivals many Melbourne restaurants, and a cocktail list that goes the extra mile. Do try Code Black’s signature coffee sour and coffee old fashioned.
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With its consistently top-notch coffee and a menu that sits well-executed classics alongside crafty modern creations, this charming Melbourne cafe is the kind you dream about having as your local. Occupying a sunny corner of Clifton Hill, complete with a leafy streetside parklet, it’s even got its very own food store in front.
The kitchen’s offering includes a turmeric bircher muesli for the health-conscious, a Sichuan pepper and apple cider-braised pork hock omelette for those who like things a little spicy, and a bread and butter pudding with honey-whipped crème fraîche for those with a sweet tooth. Throw in a cracking specials lineup, a crew of friendly staff who know most of their guests by name, and lots of regular doggos, and you’ve got yourself one of the best cafes in Melbourne.
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This Lebanese bakery and grocer has been a Sydney Road favourite for several decades — but too many people stop by for a quick takeaway treat, missing out on the stellar dine-in options. Yes, we are also obsessed with the golden spinach and feta pastries, the boat-shaped shanklish pies flecked with herbs and the layered baklava drenched in syrup.
But grab a seat inside and enjoy an even better experience. For an early visit, look no further than the A1 Brekkie. It consists of two eggs, sujuk (a spicy fermented sausage), homemade labneh, cucumber, tomato, olives, mint and pita bread. The platters are a great choice for those seeking a substantial feed, such as the shanklisk platter, the kibbie platter or the labne option.
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This cafe has been a Chapel Street stalwart since its opening back in 2008, under the name of Dukes Coffee Roasters — changing its name to Journeyman in 2014 to clearly define the difference between the roastery and the cafe. Its roots are deeply set in the coffee roasting game, but the team has since gone far beyond that focus.
Nowadays, you’ll struggle to grab a seat due to its popularity among the Melbourne brunch lovers who keep returning for the ever-evolving menu. But no matter how many times they update the food offerings, the regulars will never allow Journeyman to remove the famous avocado hummus toast served with honey candied bacon and a poached egg. And we can’t blame them — it is a winning combo that helps make this spot one of the best cafes in Melbourne.
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The minds behind Northcote’s Tinker, Collingwood’s Terror Twilight and Smith Street sandwich spot Hi Fi made a foray into the inner-northwest with Convoy — a bright daytime diner overlooking Queens Park.
Here, the team is plating up both familiar favourites and new creations that change regularly. You might find smashed avo on toast with pickled green tomatoes and pomegranate glaze; cinnamon scroll pancakes with cream cheese icing and orange zest; or Turkish eggs with sujuk and a bright lemon yoghurt. Whatever you choose here, you’ll be very, very happy.
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This casual eatery may be an interstate import (hailing from Canberra), but Ona has all the required credentials to be one of Melbourne’s best cafes. First and foremost, the coffee game is strong with this one. It has an almighty list of beans to choose from — used to make frothy milk coffees, single-origin espressos, batch brews, pour-overs, iced coffee, cold brews, and its famous frozen coffees.
You’ll struggle to find a better and more extensive list of coffees elsewhere, but Ona’s food menu holds its own. Try zucchini halloumi corn fritters with lime yoghurt, or seasonal mushrooms with miso truffle herb butter. You’ll also find lunch options aplenty at this Brunswick cafe, such as a crispy duck leg, an okonomiyaki waffle, a schnitzel roll and a banging tuna melt. It’s got it all going on.
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Yes, the team at Rudimentary uses simple building blocks to create their offerings — from fresh produce grown on-site to shipping containers and recycled materials — but the end product is anything but basic and rudimentary. They have created a unique Melbourne cafe that doubles as a community space, where local Footscray folks from all backgrounds are welcome.
Food-wise, go simple with shokupan served with butter and condensed milk, classic with eggs on toast and an array of tasty sides, or adventurous with nori-buttered udon noodles. But the greasy breakfast burger with bacon, aioli, cheddar, and a fried egg, will always hold a special place in our hungover hearts. Add some coffee from Small Batch and a tall bloody mary and you’ll be in for a delightful arvo out in West Melbourne.
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From the outside, this Japanese cafe in West Melbourne may seem like one of city’s many minimalist breakfast and brunch spots, but there is so much special goodness happening within. Owner of 279, Kantaro Okada, focuses on recreating home-style Japanese soul food that’s been passed down through the generations — putting traditional musubi front and centre. These triangles of rice are served with a variety of toppings, from classic ume-plum to pork chashu.
The sweet treats, including its famous mochinuts — a cross between mochi and doughnuts — are not to be missed. And let’s not forget the expertly brewed coffee from Japanese roasters. Basically, there’s too much good stuff to try at this Melbourne cafe — you’d best book in multiple visits.
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It’s easy to miss Seven Seeds on Berkeley Street, hidden in one of the quieter pockets of Carlton. This micro-roaster, cafe and retailer is hidden behind a wood-panelled door, which serves as a humble ruse for one of Melbourne’s best cafe creations.
The team here is renowned for bringing out the best and tastiest characteristics of a bean, and it’s one of the few roasteries that cup what it roasts on a daily basis. But the food is also worthy of coming for in its own right. Creative brunch dishes adorn the menu, with our favourite being the waffle benny. We get this just about every time we visit. The parmesan waffle is simultaneously crunchy and pillowy, topped with tarragon hollandaise sauce, poached eggs and a heap of ham (or avo). It’s a must-order.
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Melbourne is no stranger to a bakery come cafe that serves up daily brunch dishes, but Faraday’s Cage in Fitzroy has got to be one of the greatest. As it is a local bakery, you can delight in fresh sourdough bread and sweet and savoury pastries alongside an impressive selection of takeaway sangas. But Faraday’s takes it one step further with its all-day breakfast menu.
You might be lucky enough to sample raspberry panna cotta with homemade granola, or a hearty spiced shakshuka with crunchy toast. Weekend specials span everything from an open lamb souvlaki to a tiramisu French Toast, a char sui pork belly bao to salt and pepper calamari salad.
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Cibi cafe outgrew its small space back in 2018 when it moved down the road to take over a huge 800-square-metre warehouse. Here, the team can stretch and really flex their food and style muscles. Part cafe, part gallery space, the zen space is where people come to find some of the best breakfast in Melbourne (focusing on Japanese eats) and buy artisanal homewares.
Love the food at Cibi in Collingwood? Buy the cookbook and recreate such dishes at home. Equally enamoured by the plate it was served on? Those might be for sale too. Cibi is a perennial Melbourne favourite for good reason.
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This Collingwood favourite champions healthy, hearty breakfast and lunch dishes full of flavour and creativity. The Eggs Kurosawa is not only one of our favourite dishes at Terror Twilight, but across all of Melbourne. Folded eggs are served atoped brown rice with bok choy, pickled ginger, avo, furikake miso mayo and teriyaki. Chefs kiss.
Terror Twilight also goes down a different coffee road, giving diners the option to upgrade their usual brew with nootropic supplements and natural health boosters such as chaga mushrooms and MCT oil. But you don’t have to be too good here. Life is all about balance, after all. Pair these nutritious offerings with something a little naughty. The Bloody Maria cocktail, made with tequila, Martini Rosso, TT pickle juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, and TT hot sauce, will definitely do the trick.
Top images: Terror Twilight by My Friend Tom
