“I want that space to be ever-evolving,” Stephen Nairn tells Broadsheet of YTB, (formerly Yugen Tea Bar).

The tea bar, which opened at the end of 2021 under the direction of tea sommelier Thibaut Chuzeville, was known for its high tea and served more than 40 varieties of tea from 10 countries. But it’s now been completely reimagined as a casual Asian-inspired cafe and, for the first time, it’s serving coffee.

Culinary director of South Yarra venues Omnia, Hot-Listed Yugen and its tea bar sibling, Nairn says he wants YTB to be a more relaxed space – somewhere people can easily walk in and where “things are a little bit more fluid, a little bit more fun.” Beyond being just a cafe, the tea bar’s 2.0 version will also be a place for pop-ups, matcha workshops and the occasional sushi and sashimi menus.

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Nairn says the team has been “inundated” with requests for afternoon tea, so will bring it back occasionally, starting with Mother’s Day. The interior hasn’t changed, but the day-to-day menu is completely different. There are now “banging sandwiches, cracking salads and a really good breakfast offering.” And executive pastry chef Kay-Lene Tan has also developed selection of sweets including a calamansi olive oil cake, matcha white chocolate cookies and a seasonal fruit friand.

We caught up with Nairn to discuss some highlights from the new menu.

Fresh melon

It’s a lovely melon salad with red bean and coconut yoghurt with a shiso syrup. You take red bean paste and then marinate that, massage that into coconut yoghurt. And you infuse shiso into syrup and then you delicately dress the melons, which have been parisienne [scooped out in balls].

[The red bean coconut yoghurt] came from our team just developing flavour combinations. Sometimes you would see something like a miso and coconut yogurt – it’s just another way of getting in flavour.

Buckwheat taiyaki

This is one of my favourites. It’s a little different – it’s lovely and it’s light. We do have some things that reference your traditional breakfasts that you would find in Melbourne. There’s chopped eggs and avocado – people don’t always want to be challenged at breakfast. But we’ve tried to balance the menu out with this.

We took inspiration from [sweet taiyaki, which are usually made with wheat flour], because we want to have some creative twists on things as well.

Our chef Luke [Headon] was playing around with this concept. We filled it with multiple different things, but then we came across the egg combination and I think it’s just lovely. Sometimes you want a coffee or a cup of tea in the morning, you don’t necessarily want a large meal. It’s nourishing, the buckwheat feels good, it doesn’t feel heavy and glutinous. It’s got kind of a lighter, cleaner bite.

Bruce The Cake

Kay-Lene’s an absolute star. Her stuff [for YTB] is fun, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Bruce the cake is literally a big, massive chocolate cake. It’s like a comic book-style. It’s a slice – I would probably use the word wedge, because it’s beyond generous. [The name] is inspired by Bruce Bogtrotter from Matilda. The one that you see Bruce Bogtrotter have is almost like a sticky toffee pudding with chocolate. It’s not like that. It’s well-balanced. You’re not gonna need a stretcher to get out, but it’s definitely fun.

YTB
605 Chapel Street, South Yarra
8080 8080

Hours:
Mon to Fri 7.30am–4pm
Sat & Sun 8am–4pm

@yugenteabar