Taiyo Sun

Behind an unassuming door at the base of a St Georges Road apartment block, Taiyo Sun is a tiny, light-filled Japanese cafe from Tats Kawabata. It trades in the spirit of a Japanese kissaten — a neighbourhood coffee-and-tea room — serving around ten light, Japanese-leaning breakfast and lunch dishes built on thick-cut white shokupan toast from Brioche by Philip, with toppings such as homemade azuki (sweetened red bean) and matcha powder, black-honeyed sesame paste, and hard-boiled egg with Japanese mayonnaise and melted cheese, plus vegetable curry with a cheesy toasted croissant.

The cafe is naturally alcohol-free, and its non-alcoholic offering is genuine rather than incidental. Matcha is the anchor — whisked to order and also dusted over the azuki toast — and has earned Taiyo Sun a reputation as one of Melbourne's better matcha stops. Beyond it sits a considered loose-leaf tea list including lapsang souchong, grapefruit green, cherry-flavoured sakuranbo and a blossoming jasmine flower tea, with espresso coffee from Wide Open Road roasters and milk from St David's Dairy.

The room is small and pared-back — only a handful of tables — so this reads as a calm, food-focused daytime cafe rather than a social drinking venue. For a sober visitor it is a reliable, well-sourced place to sit with a properly made matcha or pot of tea. As of mid-2026 it remains open and trading for daytime service.