The Rising Sun Workshop is arguably the best cafe in Newtown, and with its long history of Good Food Guide hats, I am not exaggerating. This vintage motorcycle workshop turned urban-Japanese restaurant is an incredible fusion of cool that’s simultaneously upscale, minimalist and soaked in grungy Newtown vibes. Rising Sun might be a hatted restaurant, but it’s also very much an authentic Newtown cafe. Yes, you can get your smashed avo for brekkie. Yes, you can get your oat-milk latte takeaway in your own mug. You can also get a glorious breakfast plate of delicately prepared components that have been seasoned by the gods themselves. But it was just a takeaway flat white and a banana bread for me this morning. My Single O coffee, pulled by a fantastically tattooed and effortlessly professional barista, tasted like a golden sip of heaven. As for their banana bread, it’s only the best, thanks to Brickfields, and they bake some delicious in-house cookies too – the toddler’s personal favourite.
However, Rising Sun has very recently made a bit more of a shift towards being more restaurant than cafe. When I wrote this back in February, they were open for coffee and brunch every morning, and only did a dinner service on weekends. Now, they’re doing a dinner service almost every night and only opening for breakfast on weekends. Throughout the week, they don’t open until 12pm now, which I find a bit disappointing because for a little while there I was coming here every Friday for what I called a “casual hatted breakfast” – a truly awesome experience. Where else in Sydney (or possibly THE WORLD) can you eat awarded delicacies for breakfast, accompanied by the perfect flat white, while your toddlers fight over the best banana bread you can buy, and barely spend $50? Only here. And apparently only on weekends.
Coffee: 1
BB: 1