Sydney CBD cafés with standout design
Four Sydney CBD cafés picked for their interiors: raw concrete at Leible, a café in a church, timber at Pablo & Rusty's and a New York loft on George St.
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These four cafés in Sydney’s central business district are worth the walk for the room as much as the cup. Leible Coffee on York Street is raw concrete and mint green around one curved bar. Cafe Portico is built into a historic church on Margaret Street. Pablo & Rusty’s sits on the Liberty Place walkway in timber and polished concrete, and Avenue on George is a New York loft-style café in the lobby of 200 George Street. They’re weekday places first: two of the four close on weekends.
The photos and design notes are by Andrew Chung of Best Cafe Designs, published with the first version of this guide in November 2023. In October 2026 we rechecked each café’s address, hours and coffee on its own website. CoffeeHow hasn’t tasted the coffee at any of them, so this is a guide to the spaces, not a coffee ranking.
Updated October 2026: rewritten as a design guide, with café details rechecked and a note on where to find Sydney’s top-ranked coffee.
- Leible Coffee on York Street: a tiny concrete room with a curved bar, from a roaster founded by Australia’s first World Cup Tasters champion.
- Cafe Portico: a café fitted into a historic church, with a bay window onto the street.
- Pablo & Rusty’s: timber, exposed ceilings and polished concrete in the Liberty Place walkway. Weekdays only, cashless.
- Avenue on George: Scott Carver’s New York loft-style café and restaurant at 200 George Street. Weekdays only.
The four cafés at a glance
| Café | Where | The design in a line | Coffee | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leible Coffee | 89 York St | Raw concrete, mint green seats, a curved bar under a curved ceiling | Leible’s own roasts | Check Instagram |
| Cafe Portico | 2 York St, entrance on Margaret St | A café inside a historic church, plants and a bay window | Roaster not published | Mon–Fri 7:00–14:30, Sat–Sun 7:30–14:30 |
| Pablo & Rusty’s | 161 Castlereagh St (Liberty Place) | Timber against exposed ceilings and polished concrete | Pablo & Rusty’s own roasts | Mon–Fri 7:30–14:30 |
| Avenue on George | 200 George St | New York loft by Scott Carver: timber ceiling, subway tiles, marble column | Roaster not published | Mon–Fri 6:30–16:00 |
Andrew chose these cafés for their design: how the room is planned, the materials, the light, and how the café connects to the street or the building around it. Coffee quality wasn’t a criterion and the list isn’t ranked. Hours are as published by the cafés that list them, in October 2026.
Leible Coffee
Leible’s York Street café is small and finished almost entirely in raw concrete. The counter curves gently through the middle of the room, and the ceiling repeats the curve above it, so bar and ceiling read as one shape. A single light feature carries the room, and mint green seating is the one strong color against the gray.
Leible roasts its own coffee at its roastery in Crows Nest, on Sydney’s lower North Shore. Its founder and head roaster, Yama (Jinwoo) Kim, is Australia’s first World Cup Tasters champion, according to Leible. That competition is a race to tell coffees apart by taste: speed and accuracy both count. Leible also runs cafés on Pitt Street and in North Sydney, according to a March 2026 Broadsheet listing.
- Address: Charles Building, 89 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000
- Coffee: Leible’s own roasts, from its Crows Nest roastery
- Hours: not published on Leible’s website; check @leiblecoffee before you go
- Website: leiblecoffee.com.au
- Best for: a takeaway in a room worth stepping into
Cafe Portico
Cafe Portico is built into a historic church building, entered from Margaret Street. The fit-out keeps the old structure in view instead of covering it up. Plants line the counter and sit between the tables, and a bay window brings in daylight and gives one table a view of the street. It’s one of the few cafés in this guide that opens on weekends, with breakfast and lunch served all day.
- Address: 42–44 Margaret Street / 2 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000
- Coffee: roaster not published
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:00 to 14:30; Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 to 14:30 (as of October 2026)
- Website: cafeportico.com.au
- Instagram: @cafeportico.au
- Best for: a sit-down breakfast in an unusual setting
Pablo & Rusty’s
Pablo & Rusty’s CBD café opens onto the Liberty Place mid-block connection at 161 Castlereagh Street, the walkway that cuts through the block. The design leaves the building on show: exposed ceilings and polished concrete floors, warmed up with a lot of timber.
Pablo & Rusty’s roasts its own coffee. Saxon Wright founded it in 2003 with a blend for his two brothers-in-law, Paul and Russell, the Pablo and Rusty of the name, according to the company’s own history. It’s now a certified B Corp, and the CBD café is one of two it runs, with the other in Brisbane. The café is cashless.
- Address: 161 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000 (Liberty Place)
- Coffee: Pablo & Rusty’s own roasts
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:30 to 14:30; closed weekends (as of October 2026, per Pablo & Rusty’s)
- Instagram: @pabloandrustys.syd
- Need to know: cashless
Avenue on George
Avenue on George is on the ground floor of 200 George Street, the office tower near Circular Quay, and opens both into the building’s lobby and onto the laneway that runs through it. Scott Carver designed it as a New York loft-style café and restaurant, according to The Local Project: a timber acoustic ceiling, white subway tiles in matt and gloss against timber veneer, and a central column wrapped in Carrara marble mosaic that doubles as the menu board.
Andrew’s photos show what that does in daylight. Glass frontages fill the room with light and keep the city in view, and the timber stops all that glass and tile from feeling cold.
It’s a full restaurant as much as a coffee stop. The menu runs from ricotta hotcakes and eggs Benedict at breakfast to crab linguine and a steak sandwich at lunch. Its website doesn’t name the coffee roaster.
- Address: Tenancy 2, 200 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
- Coffee: roaster not published
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 6:30 to 16:00; closed weekends (as of October 2026, per Avenue Group)
- Instagram: @avenuegroupsydney
- Best for: a sit-down breakfast or work lunch
If you came for the coffee
None of these four is on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list for 2026. Four Sydney cafés are, according to Time Out: Only Coffee Project in Crows Nest at 4th, Toby’s Estate in Chippendale at 5th, Beta Coffee in Surry Hills at 13th and Single O in Surry Hills at 53rd. None of them is inside the CBD, but Chippendale and Surry Hills both border it to the south.
Andrew has photographed cafés in other cities for us too: see Berlin’s best café designs, cafés in Makassar and garden cafés around the world.
Tips before you go
- Go on a weekday morning. Pablo & Rusty’s and Avenue on George are closed on weekends, and Pablo & Rusty’s and Cafe Portico both close at 14:30.
- On a weekend, Cafe Portico is the one to head for: it opens at 7:30 on Saturday and Sunday.
- Check Instagram for hours on the day. Leible doesn’t publish café hours on its website.
- Bring a card: Pablo & Rusty’s is cashless.
- Leible, Cafe Portico and Avenue on George are all on or just off York and George Streets, so you can walk between them.
Sydney CBD cafés FAQ
Not all of them. Of the cafés in this guide, Pablo & Rusty’s and Avenue on George open Monday to Friday only, as of October 2026. Cafe Portico opens on Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 to 14:30. Check a café’s Instagram or website before a weekend visit.
Four, according to Time Out: Only Coffee Project in Crows Nest (4th), Toby’s Estate in Chippendale (5th), Beta Coffee in Surry Hills (13th) and Single O in Surry Hills (53rd). None is in the CBD itself.
The architecture practice Scott Carver, for the Avenue Group, according to The Local Project. The brief was a New York loft-style café and restaurant on the ground floor of 200 George Street.
In the Charles Building at 89 York Street. Leible roasts its coffee in Crows Nest and also has cafés on Pitt Street and in North Sydney.
Yes. Pablo & Rusty’s has roasted its own coffee since it was founded in Sydney in 2003, and its CBD café at 161 Castlereagh Street serves it.
Sources
- Best Cafe Designs: Andrew Chung’s photos and design notes (2023)
- Leible Coffee: About us and Contact (roastery address)
- Broadsheet: Leible free coffee event, March 2026 (café locations)
- Pablo & Rusty’s: Locations and Our story
- Avenue Group: Avenue on George (address, hours, menu)
- The Local Project: Avenue on George by Scott Carver
- Time Out Sydney: Four Sydney cafés on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026 list (Melissa Woodley, February 17, 2026)
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