Cà Phê Mai

For Cindy Mai and Ed Loveday, Cà Phê Mai represents much more than just another Sydney cafe opening. The new Double Bay venue draws a line from Cindy's great-grandmother's restaurant outside Ho Chi Minh City to her grandmother rebuilding a life in Australia after arriving as a refugee, creating a space shaped by family history and a lifelong connection to hospitality.

Opening this week inside Double Bay's Forum precinct, the venue already feels firmly planted in the Sydney scene—a cafe by day, wine bar by night, and a reflection of Cindy's experience growing up between Vietnamese and Australian cultures.

The daytime offering centres around the staples Cindy grew up with, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens. Breakfast banh mi sits alongside Vietnamese coffee, while lunch brings vermicelli bowls, Hanoi-style spring rolls and a standout pho gà built on a family chicken broth recipe that's been passed down through generations.

Located just off New South Head Road via Kiaora Lane, the venue has been designed to evolve throughout the day. From Wednesday through Saturday, the space shifts into neighbourhood wine bar mode—and while the food tells Cindy's story, the drinks program bears the fingerprints of Ed, a seasoned hospitality veteran.

Previously the co-owner of ACME, creative director of The Point Group and the force behind the drinks program at Solaré, Ed has curated a list centred on small independent wines, classic cocktails and a handful of house signatures. Among them is the Cà Phê Muối—a salted Vietnamese coffee that's likely to become a fixture of the Double Bay caffeine circuit.

However you choose to experience it, Cà Phê Mai offers something Sydney doesn't have enough of: a genuinely personal hospitality story told through food, bringing four generations of family hospitality into a new era for Double Bay.

Image credit: Parker Blain | Supplied