The New Kiddo on a Surry Hills Block Delivers Coconut Buns and Cream-Topped Coffee

When will the specialty drinks craze burn out? There is seemingly no end. Cream-topped Mont Blancs are now commonplace, and you’re just as likely to find a cold brew or matcha under a foam of some sort in your neighbourhood cafe as you are at the spot of the moment. I’m not complaining; you want to top my coffee with a thick whack of slightly sweet cream? Please.

But how does a newcomer cut through and make its way into our rotations? At Kiddo Coffee, it’s with attention to detail, Thai riffs and coconut-filled buns toasty from the oven.

Pakasit “Zen” Wawongmoon has just opened the cafe on a tucked-away Surry Hills street. Two years ago he closed the Bondi cafe of the same name that he co-owned – but he’s back with a truer expression of himself.

“I wanted to start again by myself and open a cafe that could really reflect my own personality, ideas and style,” he says. “It was a big challenge, especially doing everything on my own and with a limited budget, but I really wanted to see what I could create from scratch.”

Kiddo 2.0 is modelled on cha chaan tengs – the buzzy, casual coffee and tea houses found in Hong Kong – as well as the signature aesthetics of Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. “I love the mood, atmosphere and visual storytelling in his films, and that became a big inspiration for the mood and tone of Kiddo.”

When I visit, a framed movie poster for Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels hangs on one wall, and a line snakes from the counter to the front door. Summer Hill roaster Headlands is on the beans, with bags of the roasted coffee displayed in the window. Most of the poky space is dedicated to the blur of work around the coffee machine and a counter carrying a toaster oven, hot and ready to toast sweet Hong Kong-style buns.

The pastel yellow facade is crowded with people drinking your standard pours, in darling cups carrying the traditional Chinese longevity pattern. I have a piccolo, then quickly order the Fly Me To the Moon, Kiddo’s own interpretation of a Mont Blanc. Someone’s sipping the Momokawa, where a rich espresso shot is topped with a dairy-free cream and a sprinkle of genmaicha; another has an einspanner – I can’t tell whether they chose coffee or Milo (and there’s a matcha option, too).

All the specialty drinks arrive on silver trays, placed on the cherry-red plastic crates used as tables next to small stools. A concrete barricade sections off a carpark-sized spot on the street, while an open window looks back in at the coffee counter. Almost every single table has at least one of Kiddo’s puffy, sweet, crunchy-topped buns.

There are currently two to choose from: a polo bao (pineapple bun) and coconut-filled pandan number. Both are fluffy and fragrant, made locally for Kiddo by Zen’s friends from Hong Kong, siblings Jansen and Joyce Li. There will be more flavours eventually, developed in collaboration with Zen.

You’ll spot hints of Zen’s Thai heritage, too: ceramics made by Thai creatives on the walls, and the Es Yen Mak, a version of traditional Thai coffee with espresso, milk and the thick house cream. “It’s quite similar to Vietnamese coffee, which I think many people are already familiar with,” says Zen, “I wanted to use the Thai name so people could remember that this style of coffee comes from Thailand.”

Tearing open a hot pandan bun then demolishing it, after multiple coffees, is a fine way to welcome this Kiddo to the block. May the specialty drinks go the distance.

Kiddo Coffee
84-86 Mary Street, Surry Hills

Hours:
Mon to Fri 7am–3pm
Sat & Sun 7.30am–3pm

@kiddo.coffeesydney