Five To Try: New Cafes, Coffee Shops and Matcha Stops From Box Hill to Brunswick East

In 2018, we wondered if Melbourne cafes were out of ideas. Fast forward to now, and this new crop of cafes, coffee bars and matcha spots proves there’s still plenty of creativity brewing. From a former bartender’s cafe serving dill cold brew to a sneakerhead’s new matcha spot, here are five new exciting cafes to try.

Giu Giu, Preston

Mornings at Giu Giu start with zeppola – a pillowy Italian doughnut flecked with orange zest and rolled in sugar – made by owner Julia Di Pasquale’s mum.

Giu Giu is filled with family touches, from handed-down recipes to ingredients picked from friends’ gardens. And Di Pasquale blends her Italian and Filipino heritage across the menu. Focaccia pizza appears alongside pancit (a Filipino noodle dish), and muffins are made with calamansi and cassava.

Most things – including all the savoury bakes and syrups used in the cafe’s matcha drinks – are made in-house. This includes the signature rich, earthy and lightly sweetened iced ube matcha (made with Uji matcha, ube syrup and coconut cream).

Catalogue Coffee, Brunswick

Luke Wilcock (formerly of Market Lane) oversees everything at this tiny Lygon Street coffee shop. House coffees are sourced from local roasters including Market Lane and Small Batch, but coffee nerds can branch out with beans from further afield. Reserve beans come from roasters such as Paris-based Tanat and Manta Ray, one of the few roasters in Australia that specialises in Chinese coffee.

Pastries are the work of Little Cardigan, which makes an almond hojicha melon pan specially for Catalogue.

The Sneaker Laundry Lab, CBD

Eugene Cheng didn’t start with matcha. His first business, The Sneaker Laundry, cleans and restores shoes. When customers began lingering as they waited for their footwear to be cleaned, Cheng decided to serve drinks worth staying for.

The Sneaker Laundry Lab (housed next door to the shoe-cleaning site) gained traction on Tiktok for its inventive matcha and other tea drinks. Now lines form out the shop for drinks including chai brewed using a sous vide and turned into a spiced hot chocolate, matcha kult (matcha topped with a tangy Yakult nitro foam) and the matcha cloud (iced matcha crowned with a soft vanilla foam).

Una Una, Box Hill

At Una Una, you might start with a toastie and end with a cocktail. Named for owner Samuel Hatherley’s daughter, the Box Hill cafe shifts identities throughout the day. Mornings bring focaccia toasties, pastries from Cobb Lane and specialty coffee made using Manta Ray beans.

Hatherley, former head bartender at Rosetta, makes specialty drinks including the coconut dill breeze (cold brew, coconut water, sea salt and fresh dill) and the Italian whipped coffee cream – two shots of espresso, cream, honey and raw sugar, shaken with a single ice cube until thick and silky, then poured over an ice spear in a highball glass.

At night, the cafe turns into Moonlight Bistro, where duck breast and black garlic scallops are served under low light and Hatherley gets to show off his serious cocktail skills.

Aokuma Cafe, Hawthorn

Carl Yuan and Daniel Huang (a graphic designer turned pastry chef who worked at Gelato Messina, Om Nom and Glace) opened this cosy Japanese cafe two months ago. Nothing is instant, frozen or outsourced, and all sauces, marinades, pastries and desserts are made in-house. The matcha cheesecake latte folds tangy cheesecake into creamy matcha for a dessert-like twist. And the Tokachi-style butadon is a standout, with thick slices of pork belly slow-cooked in soy sauce until caramelised.