There’s a New Japanese Kissa (With Coffee and Cheesecake) Hiding in the Inner West
Words by Lucy Christopher · Published on 12 Aug 2026
Coffee is something most of us think about daily – a reason to pause, or a vital first step. At Phono Stage, Kevin Tu has built an entire room around that pause, one that feels like coming home and sinking into your favourite album.
The newcomer is a take on a Japanese kissa, the small backstreet coffee bars found tucked away across Tokyo, built on one gentle rule: don’t rush, just stay a while. With art-filled walls, records and books waiting to be flicked through, and a matcha-whisking frog watching over the coffee bar, the Beattie Street spot feels worlds away from the usual Balmain pit stop.
Tu was struck by a line from Will Guidara’s book Unreasonable Hospitality. “Hospitality comes from the word ‘host’,” he writes. “You’re actually inviting people into your home.” It’s a philosophy Tu poured into Phono Stage.
After 15 years behind machines all over Sydney, this is his first solo spot. The house blend is Mecca, but for the weekly batch brew he’s rotating beans from friends in the industry, like Primary, Made of Many, Beam and Ratio. There’s also a house-made yuzu honey matcha alongside a considered offering of sweet snacks and pastries from fellow Balmain resident Penny Fours, as well as a silky slab of that covetable Basque cheesecake from Hue Coffee – making it the only spot you can nab that slice in the inner west.
There are a few ways to settle in here. Pull up a stool at the bar and watch your pour-over come together. Nab a spot on the wraparound banquette with its sleek little silver table, or wander into the lounge-like retro nook out back, soon to become a mini record store.
One customer nails the vibe: “That’s like your kitchen,” they say, gesturing to the front space, where the coffee machine’s whirring. “This is like your living room.”
“When you’re playing an LP, you play the entire album from start to finish,” Tu says. “It’s a journey. People see the cover and notice what I’m listening to. It’s not just something in the background, it’s intentional.”
An early customer had wandered in just as Tu placed Nick Drake’s second album on the mat. “It just happened to be his favourite,” Tu says. “Since that moment, he’s come in every single day.”
Balmain has always done pubs, parks and easy date-night dinners well. Now it has a whole new way to sit down and tune in, too.
Phono Stage
13 Beattie Street, Balmain
Hours:
Daily 6am–3pm
