Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page named five dessert spots in Southbank that we cannot find anywhere, at addresses on North Crescent, East Street, Maple Grove and High Place, streets that do not appear in Southbank’s map data. It also carried prices, opening hours, seat counts and tips we could not stand behind, and claimed we had eaten at every dessert spot in the area. It has been rewritten from scratch, and every place below was checked against its own current website or menu on 1 October 2026.
For dessert in Southbank, head for the river. San Churro and Cups n Cones sit on the ground floor of Southgate, and Gradi and Koko Black are on Crown Riverwalk. Away from the water, Tatik’s Delights on Moray Street makes a 12-layer Armenian honey cake.
That is the list. Five places, all inside Southbank, all checked. Four of the five builds below come off the venue’s own menu or online shop: what’s in it, what it costs, and how messy it is likely to get. Cups n Cones has neither online, so its build is just a cup or a cone. The mess forecast is read off the build, nothing more. Two sauces and a scoop of gelato is high. A fork and a slice of cake is low.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Order | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A late sugar hit | San Churro Southgate | Medium Churros (6 churros, 2 dip-cups) | $19.95 |
| A whole cake for a celebration | Tatik’s Delights | Honey Cake, 5-inch whole | $68.00 |
| A sit-down Italian dessert | Gradi at Crown | Tiramisu | $22 |
| Gelato by the water | Cups n Cones | Gelato (no prices online) | n/a |
| Chocolate to take away | Koko Black | Belgian Truffle Collection, 8 pieces | $36.90 |
San Churro Southgate — G09-G11, 3 Southgate Ave, Southbank VIC 3006
The late one. Southgate’s own listing gives San Churro’s hours as 10am to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 10am to 10pm the rest of the week. Churros are Spanish doughnuts (a ridged dough piped into hot oil, then rolled in cinnamon sugar), and Southgate’s listing says San Churro hand-crafts them in-store.
The build: Small Churros, $11.95: three churros and one Classic dip-cup. Medium Churros, $19.95: six churros and two dip-cups. Not after churros? The Choc Lava Cake is $13.95, a chocolate pudding with a molten centre, served warm with vanilla gelato.
Mess forecast: medium. Dip-cups mean chocolate on your fingers. The lava cake comes with a spoon.
Order: Medium Churros, $19.95. Six churros and two dips makes it the one to split.
Tatik’s Delights — 84 Moray St, Southbank VIC 3006
An Armenian bakery on Moray Street, away from the riverfront, which Broadsheet covered when it opened in February 2026. The headline act is medovik, the honey cake. Thin honey biscuits are layered with cream and left to rest so the biscuits soften. Tatik’s own site says its version is “twelve paper-thin layers, made over 24 hours”.
The build: Honey Cake, 5-inch (serves 4-10), $68.00. Mikado, the chocolate cousin (“ten thin layers of chocolate-caramel cream, finished with dark chocolate shavings”), 5-inch, $64.00. Whole cakes are made to order, and the online shop asks for two days’ notice. The shop opens Wednesday to Sunday and is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Mess forecast: low. It’s a cake you cut. Plates and forks handle the rest.
Order: the honey cake, $68.00 for the 5-inch. It’s the bake Broadsheet says the bakery specialises in.
Gradi at Crown — Ground Floor, Crown Riverwalk, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank VIC 3006
Johnny Di Francesco’s pizza restaurant on the riverwalk, and a proper sit-down dessert. Crown’s page for it points to a separate dessert menu, and that is where the Italian classics live. The 400 Gradi site lists it open until 11pm on Friday and Saturday.
The build: Tiramisu, $22: coffee-soaked sponge biscuit, mascarpone cream, Kahlua and cacao (so it contains alcohol). Cannoli, $21: fried pastry tubes filled with chocolate, pistachio and vanilla custard. Crêpes alla Nutella, $21: Nutella-filled crêpes with strawberries, mint and vanilla gelato from Zero Gradi, the group’s gelato brand. Zero Gradi gelato by the scoop is $6, $8 or $10 for one, two or three. The dessert menu notes a 10% surcharge on Saturdays and Sundays and 15% on public holidays.
Mess forecast: low for the tiramisu, medium for the cannoli. Fried pastry shells shatter.
Order: tiramisu, $22. If it’s your first visit, the classic is the safe call.
Cups n Cones — G24, 3 Southgate Ave, Southbank VIC 3006
The gelato counter in Southgate’s riverside food court. Southgate’s own listing calls it a gelateria crafting “artisanal gelato” and says vegan and dairy-free options are available. The Southbank Directory adds sorbets, crêpes, waffles and milkshakes.
The build: a cup or a cone, your flavours. That’s all we can tell you. Its own web address was showing a hosting error page on 1 October 2026, so there was no menu or price list we could read. Check the cabinet.
Mess forecast: high on a hot day. A cone, the river breeze and a walk along the promenade is a drip waiting to happen. Take a cup.
Order: whatever is in the cabinet. Southgate lists it open until 10pm on Thursday and Friday.
Koko Black — Ground Floor, Crown Riverwalk, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank VIC 3006
Koko Black’s shop on the riverwalk. Crown’s page says every Koko Black chocolate is handcrafted in Melbourne, with Australian flavours like lemon myrtle, finger lime and Davidson plum. The Crown store runs until 11pm from Thursday to Saturday.
The build: The Belgian Truffle Collection Gift Box, 8 pieces, $36.90, which the brand says is dark chocolate Belgian truffles. A Midnight Ganache dark chocolate block is $13.90. Both prices are from Koko Black’s online shop; check the counter for the Crown price.
Mess forecast: low. It’s boxed. Until it isn’t.
Order: the eight-piece truffle box, $36.90. Dessert you can carry to the tram.
Also in Southbank
Zero Gradi, the 400 Gradi group’s gelato bar, is listed at Crown (8 Whiteman St) on the group’s own website, and at Shop 34, Crown Melbourne, by the City of Melbourne’s What’s On guide. Crown’s own website did not list it among its restaurants or shops on 1 October 2026. That may just be a gap in Crown’s listings, but we left it out of the picks until we can confirm it from a current Crown source. Zero Gradi gelato is on Gradi’s dessert menu, above.
Quick answers
Where can I get dessert late at night in Southbank?
San Churro Southgate is listed by Southgate as open until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and until 10pm the rest of the week. Koko Black at Crown is open until 11pm Thursday to Saturday, and Gradi at Crown until 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Hours were checked on 1 October 2026; public holidays can differ.
Where can I get gelato in Southbank?
Cups n Cones in the Southgate food court (shop G24) is a gelateria with vegan and dairy-free options, according to Southgate’s listing. Gradi at Crown serves Zero Gradi gelato at $6, $8 or $10 for one, two or three scoops, and San Churro’s menu lists gelato too.
What dessert places are at Crown Melbourne?
On Crown Riverwalk, Gradi at Crown has a dessert menu with tiramisu ($22), cannoli ($21) and Nutella crêpes ($21) before its weekend and public-holiday surcharge, and Koko Black sells chocolates handcrafted in Melbourne, including an eight-piece truffle box at $36.90 on its online shop.
Are there vegan desserts in Southbank?
Southgate’s listing says Cups n Cones has vegan and dairy-free gelato options, and San Churro’s menu marks its churros as having a vegan option. Ask at the counter, because ingredients can change.
How much is the honey cake at Tatik’s Delights?
A whole 5-inch honey cake (serves 4-10) is $68.00 on Tatik’s own online shop, made to order with two days’ notice. The bakery is at 84 Moray Street and is closed Monday and Tuesday.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each venue’s own website, online shop or menu and copied every item and price as printed. San Churro’s prices are from the chain’s own menu page, which says they are in-store dine-in prices. Gradi’s are from the dessert menu PDF linked from Crown’s Gradi page (the file is dated July 2025); Tatik’s and Koko Black’s are from their online shops. We confirmed each address at a second source on a different website: Southgate’s centre directory, Crown Melbourne, the City of Melbourne’s What’s On guide, Broadsheet or the Southbank Directory. Opening hours come from the venue’s own site or its centre’s listing. We used no Google ratings and no delivery-app prices. Menus, PDFs and online-shop prices can lag what is at the counter, so check before you go. We re-read the Gradi menu and the San Churro and Zero Gradi listings on 2 October 2026. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of dessert, not the venue’s own food.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- San Churro: menu; address and hours at Southgate and What’s On Melbourne
- Tatik’s Delights: tatiksdelights.com, honey cake and mikado; opening covered by Broadsheet
- Gradi at Crown: Crown Melbourne, its dessert menu and 400 Gradi
- Cups n Cones: Southgate, Southgate directory and the Southbank Directory
- Koko Black: Crown Melbourne, store list, truffle box and Midnight Ganache block
- Zero Gradi: 400 Gradi and What’s On Melbourne
