Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page was generated from map listings. It ranked cafes by Google ratings and review counts we could not stand behind, and its table listed a flower shop and a car wash among the cafes. It has been rewritten. Every cafe below was checked against its own website, or, where it has none, against two independent listings, on 1 October 2026.
Kew East’s cafes are spread across a few streets. Two of the cafes here sit on High Street: Kuche at 682, and a bookshop that pours coffee at 643. Westbrook Food Store is on Westbrook Street. Briquettes is on Harp Road at the High Street corner, and its listings give its suburb as Kew. For a full sit-down brekkie seven days a week, Ora is in Kew’s Willsmere Village.
Here is what each one says about itself: which roaster it names, when the kitchen closes, and whether the pastry cabinet or the plate is the point. Sweet or savoury, pick a lane.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Why (quoted) |
|---|---|---|
| Cake with your coffee | Kuche | “Seven Seeds Specialty coffee, fabulous cakes and pastries” |
| A Mediterranean lunch | Westbrook Food Store | “a Mediterranean-inspired menu” |
| Coffee and a browse | Escape Hatch Books | “an independent bookshop that stocks all books and serves coffee and cake” |
| Brekkie on a Sunday | Ora Kew | “Open 7 days” |
| A takeaway toastie | Briquettes | “coffee (naturally), takeaway pastries, cookies, toasties and salads” (Mamma Knows East, 2022) |
Kuche — 682 High St, Kew East VIC 3102
A High Street cafe whose site promises “Seven Seeds Specialty coffee, fabulous cakes and pastries”. The dietary list is the long one: gluten free, vegan and vegetarian, dairy free, nut free and low FODMAP. It also runs a catering menu and a speciality cakes page. It opens Monday to Friday 7am-4pm and Saturday 8am-3pm, and is closed on public holidays. No Sunday hours are listed.
Roaster: Seven Seeds, named by the cafe.
Sweet or savoury? Sweet. The cakes get a page of their own.
Go for: a coffee and a slice from the cake range.
Westbrook Food Store — 2A Westbrook St, Kew East VIC 3102
The side-street local, and the “westbrook cafe kew east” people search for. It calls itself “the heartbeat of Kew East” and says everything is made fresh on site, from “a Mediterranean-inspired menu” built on what it calls “quality ingredients”. It pitches itself for “your daily coffee, a quick lunch, or a relaxed catch-up”. The menu and prices aren’t on its website, and nor are its hours, so check its Instagram (@westbrook_foodstore) before a special trip.
Roaster: not stated.
Sweet or savoury? Savoury. The Mediterranean menu is the pitch.
Go for: a quick lunch.
Escape Hatch Books — 643 High St, Kew East VIC 3102
An independent bookshop with a big children’s range that “stocks all books and serves coffee and cake”. The coffee detail is specific: it says its baristas serve “the South Blend from Coffee Supreme”. The sweets are from named suppliers: cheesecake brownies, red velvet cookies from CakeHouse Collective, and macarons from Cacao. It is closed Monday. It opens Tuesday and Wednesday 8am-4:30pm, Thursday and Friday 8am-5pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 9am-1pm, and runs a story time every Friday and Sunday.
Roaster: Coffee Supreme, South Blend.
Sweet or savoury? Sweet, all the way: brownies, cookies, macarons.
Go for: a coffee and a red velvet cookie, then the kids’ section.
Ora Kew — 156 Pakington St, Kew VIC 3101
Over the border in Kew, in Willsmere Village, and the “ora cafe” in the Kew East searches. Ora says it is celebrating 15 years and has relaunched “with twice the space and twice the offering”. It lists specialty coffee and a seasonal breakfast and lunch menu, open seven days: 7am-3pm on weekdays and 8am-3pm on weekends, with the kitchen closing at 2pm. Walk-ins are welcome and bookings are online. It also has a wine page.
Roaster: not named on its site. Broadsheet’s 2023 listing tags it “Coffee Roasting On Site”.
Sweet or savoury? Savoury. Breakfast and brunch is the headline menu.
Go for: a weekend brekkie. Its Sunday hours, 8am-3pm, are the longest listed on this page.
Briquettes — 6 Harp Rd, Kew VIC 3101
The coffee shop people search for as “Briquettes Pty Ltd”. It has no website or online menu, so this is what independent listings say. Mamma Knows East’s November 2022 write-up places it “on the Harp Rd intersection in Kew”. It lists “coffee (naturally), takeaway pastries, cookies, toasties and salads”, with babycinos, ice creams and juice boxes for kids, and tables in a back courtyard. MapQuest gives the address as 6 Harp Road, corner of High Street. The 2022 hours were 6am-1pm on weekdays, 6:30am-1pm on Saturday and 7am-12pm on Sunday. We couldn’t confirm current hours, so check its Instagram (@briquettes_coffee) first.
Roaster: not stated.
Sweet or savoury? Savoury: it’s a toastie stop.
Go for: a toastie and a takeaway coffee.
Also in Kew East, without a menu online
One more Kew East name turns up in searches. Xocolatl Artisan Chocolates & Cafe, 11 Strathalbyn Street, is a chocolate maker with a cafe attached. Its own site, xocolatl.com.au, lists the Kew East store and its trading hours on its stores page but publishes no cafe menu, so it sits here without detail. The Australian Good Food Guide gives the same address.
Quick answers
Does Briquettes in Kew have a menu online?
No. Briquettes, at 6 Harp Road on the High Street corner, has no website or online menu. Mamma Knows East’s 2022 write-up lists coffee, takeaway pastries, cookies, toasties and salads, plus babycinos and ice creams for kids. Check its Instagram, @briquettes_coffee, for anything current.
Where is Westbrook cafe in Kew East?
Westbrook Food Store is at 2A Westbrook Street, Kew East. It describes its menu as Mediterranean-inspired and made fresh on site.
Which Kew East cafe names its coffee roaster?
Two on this list name theirs: Kuche, 682 High Street, names Seven Seeds, and Escape Hatch Books, 643 High Street, serves Coffee Supreme’s South Blend.
Is there a book cafe in Kew East?
Yes. Escape Hatch Books, 643 High Street, is an independent bookshop that serves coffee and cake. It is closed Monday and opens Tuesday to Sunday.
Where can I get breakfast near Kew East on a Sunday?
Ora Kew, 156 Pakington Street in Kew, lists breakfast and brunch seven days, 8am-3pm on weekends, with the kitchen closing at 2pm. Escape Hatch Books opens 9am-1pm on Sundays for coffee and cake.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each cafe’s own website and copied hours, roasters and descriptions exactly as written. Briquettes has no website, so its entry relies on Mamma Knows East’s 2022 write-up and MapQuest, and says so. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source: the Australian Good Food Guide for Kuche and Westbrook Food Store, Love Local Life for Westbrook, Mamma Knows East for Escape Hatch Books, and Broadsheet for Ora. We left out star ratings and review counts. We found no priced menu published as text on these cafes’ websites, so this page carries no prices. Kuche’s current menu is posted on its site as an image, so read it there. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of coffee or dish, not the cafe’s own.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- Kuche: kucheonhigh.com.au; address also at the Australian Good Food Guide
- Westbrook Food Store: westbrookfoodstore.com.au/about-us; address at the Australian Good Food Guide and Love Local Life
- Escape Hatch Books: about us and contact; address also at Mamma Knows East
- Ora Kew: orakew.com.au and its breakfast page; address also at Broadsheet
- Briquettes: Mamma Knows East and MapQuest
- Xocolatl: xocolatl.com.au stores page and the Australian Good Food Guide
