First Look: Moon, Lune’s Cruller Spin-Off, Moves to the CBD

In 2021, Kate and Cam Reid opened Moon on Fitzroy’s Rose Street. The idea was to bring some joy, in the form of crullers, to Melburnians coming in and out of lockdown. The deep-fried choux pastry rings crunch like a churro on the outside and yield like a soft canelé on the inside.

The siblings began serving the crullers from a small room next to the office they also run Lune from. Little did we know, that was just a pop-up until a better space could be found. It took five years, but Moon has finally landed on Degraves Street.

“We only ever wanted to move once, so we knew we had to take our time,” Kate says. “Degraves Street is iconic, it’s such an important part of Melbourne’s culture, so when this space became available, we knew it was the right one.”

Moon’s menu is ever-changing and the move to the CBD comes with another refresh. As always, there are six crullers on rotation. The opening menu has cinnamon, passionfruit, vanilla, cappuccino, chocolate, and a Homer Simpson-esque strawberry sprinkle number. There’s also Ona coffee, Mork hot chocolate, and chai from Chai La Lai.

The shop design, by In Addition, is inspired by science fiction and Soviet-era brutalist architecture. Crullers and coffees are ordered through a small gap in a concrete slab, where front-of-house staff are illuminated by amber lights that make the room look like the interior of a spaceship. Behind them, you might catch a glimpse of pastries being prepared out the back, on the other side of a retro-futuristic metal door. It stands out as a mini monolith on the arcade, like something out of Blade Runner. 

“The idea was to create something eye-catching on the street that leaned into the brand without being too on the nose,” Reid says. “The architects and builders did an amazing job – there was a lot of research watching old science fiction movies while we figured it out.”

The CBD store is open seven days a week with longer hours than the old Rose Street spot. You’ll be able to get your cruller fix until at least 5pm (and 6pm on weekends), while the team weighs up later hours in the summer months or during busy periods.

The Degraves Street spot is the Reids’ 10th shopfront, but there’s only one Moon among the many Lunes. This isn’t a deliberate choice, just a result of waiting for the right space to come along.

“We’ve been so busy expanding Lune and it’s such a big operation – even the pastry-making process there takes three full days,” Kate says. “With Moon, it was easy to run it on low-battery mode for a while there, it just kept ticking along while we worked on other projects. Never say never, but for now we just want to focus on making this one successful.”

Moon
26 Degraves Street, Melbourne
No phone

Hours
Mon to Fri  7.30am–5pm
Sat to Sun 8.30am–6pm

mooncruller.com
@mooncruller