Cafeography
Sydney

Brunch cafés in Sydney

Eggs, toast and coffee until mid-afternoon, most of all in Darlinghurst and Potts Point.

Photo: Eugenia Sol, Pexels License

Brunch in Sydney is a café breakfast that runs on toward lunch, served by places that usually close by mid-afternoon. Darlinghurst & Potts Point has the most brunch cafés, nearly one in five, with Bondi & Bronte second and Newtown & Erskineville third.

The modern version has a Darlinghurst address. Bill Granger opened bills there in 1993; he was 22, had no commercial experience, and started with a few dozen seats, no liquor license and a closing time around 15:00.12 "When I first opened, people were really conservative with what they'd eat for breakfast," he told The New York Times in 2015.2

Local tip: Arrive before 13:00, since many Sydney brunch cafés close at 14:30 or 15:00, and on Sundays and public holidays read the menu's surcharge line before you order.

Where these cafés are: Darlinghurst & Potts Point (10), Bondi & Bronte (8), Newtown & Erskineville (6), Paddington & Woollahra (5), Kirribilli & North Sydney (5), Marrickville & Petersham (4), CBD & The Rocks (4), Coogee & Clovelly (3), Mosman & Cremorne (2), Redfern & Waterloo (2), Pyrmont & Ultimo (2), Surry Hills (1), Crows Nest & St Leonards (1).

At a glance

53Cafés listed
35With opening hours
05:00Earliest opening
20:30Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Double Roasters, from 05:00 (Mon–Sat 05:00–15:00 · Sun 06:00–15:00).
  • Closes latest: Locale, until 20:30 (Mon–Thu 06:45–14:00 · Fri 06:45–14:00, 17:00–20:30 · Sat 06:45–15:00 · Sun 07:00–15:00).
  • Most listed streets: King Street (4), Clovelly Road (3), Belgrave Street (2).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (47%), open by 6am (21%), takeaway (17%).
Bondi & Bronte

Locale

  • 127 MacPherson Street
  • Mon–Thu 06:45–14:00 · Fri 06:45–14:00, 17:00–20:30 · Sat 06:45–15:00 · Sun 07:00–15:00
  • +61 2 8590 1732
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Mosman & Cremorne

Siborg Cafe

  • 2 Langley Avenue
  • Mon–Sat 06:30–15:00 · Sun 07:00–15:00
  • +61299088011
  • Indoor seating
  • Card payment
  • Partial wheelchair access
  • Toilets
  • Brunch
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Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Sydney.

What bills put on the plate

bills is often credited with being the first café to serve avocado on toast, and Granger's best-known dishes included scrambled eggs with creamy curds.2 The idea itself is older: avocado toast is recorded in Brisbane as early as 1929.3 bills served it at a communal table, in a small café where breakfast was the main business.2

The plate turned political in 2016, when the columnist Bernard Salt wrote in The Australian about young people ordering "smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more" instead of saving for a home. He later said the piece was meant to satirize baby boomers, but smashed avo stuck as shorthand for millennial spending.3

Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay and the parks

The brunch cafés in Darlinghurst & Potts Point keep breakfast hours. Gypsy Espresso on Manning Street and Greenknowe Cafe both open daily 07:00–15:00, Shuk at 61–69 Roslyn Gardens starts at 06:00 every day, and Scramble & Bean serves 07:00–14:30 seven days a week. ZINC is at 77 Macleay Street, and La Bomba opens Tuesday to Sunday.

Some of the brunch tables are outdoors in parks. Rushcutters Bay Kiosk serves from 07:30 every day, The Lookout at 1 Ithaca Road, Elizabeth Bay, opens at the same hour, and Pirrama Park Kiosk in Pyrmont opens daily 07:00–16:00.

King Street and the rest of the city

Newtown's brunch cafés line King Street: Chill Cafe at 477, Cafe Martini at 529a and End of King at 609–611, with Either Or on the same street. Foodcraft is at 33 Bridge Street.

In the CBD, Leaf Dept. serves daily 08:00–16:00, and The Brothers Cafe at 1 Little Pier Street stays open until 19:45 from Thursday to Sunday. In the inner west, Double Roasters at 199 Victoria Road, Marrickville, adds brunch to its roastery café and opens at 05:00 Monday to Saturday. Hunter's Corner at 89 Pitt Street, Redfern, opens daily from 06:30.

Sunday surcharges and closing times

Weekend brunch can cost more than the printed prices. Australian cafés and restaurants may add a surcharge on Sundays and public holidays, as long as the menu says so in words at least as prominent as its highest price: "a surcharge of [percentage] applies on [the specified day or days]."4 Owners say the extra covers higher costs on those days, including penalty rates paid to staff.4

Most brunch cafés here close between 14:00 and 16:00, so a 13:00 start leaves little time. Flybridge Cafe in Paddington & Woollahra stays open until 17:00 at weekends, and Devon Café in Surry Hills serves until 15:30 every day.

Sources

  1. Chef and restaurateur Bill Granger dies at 54, The Canberra Times / AAP (December 27, 2023), accessed October 2026
  2. Bill Granger, chef who brought avocado toast to the world, dies at 54, The Boston Globe / The New York Times (December 2023), accessed October 2026
  3. Avocado toast, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Sunday surcharge at Aussie eatery sparks debate: 'It isn't unreasonable', Yahoo Finance Australia (February 2, 2023), accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse Sydney

Specialty coffee

54 cafés

Outdoor seating

369 cafés

Open by 6am

99 cafés

Bakery cafés

46 cafés

By area: CBD & The Rocks Surry Hills Darlinghurst & Potts Point Redfern & Waterloo Newtown & Erskineville Marrickville & Petersham

FAQ

Brunch in Sydney: questions

Where did Sydney's brunch café culture start?

Bill Granger opened bills in Darlinghurst in 1993, at 22 and with no commercial experience: a small café with a few dozen seats, a communal table, no liquor license and a closing time around 15:00. It is often credited with being the first café to serve avocado on toast, though avocado toast is recorded in Brisbane as early as 1929.

Why do some Sydney brunch cafés charge more on Sundays?

Australian cafés and restaurants may add a surcharge on Sundays and public holidays if the menu states it in words at least as prominent as its highest price, in the form "a surcharge of [percentage] applies on [the specified day or days]." Owners say it covers higher costs on those days, including penalty rates paid to staff.

Which Sydney neighborhoods have the most brunch cafés?

Darlinghurst & Potts Point has the most brunch cafés, including Gypsy Espresso on Manning Street, Shuk on Roslyn Gardens and ZINC on Macleay Street. Bondi & Bronte is second, and Newtown & Erskineville third, with several on King Street.

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