First Look: SUNY Cereal Bar

Posted on 30 November, 2021

Fyshwick’s newest eatery will have you saying: Are you being cereal?

In a pocket of Fyshwick’s Dairy Road, breakfast food is getting all the love. Or, to be specific, cereal.

Inside SUNY Cereal Bar, (pronounced ‘sunny’), an eye-popping wall of hyper-coloured cereal boxes forms the backdrop of what, at first glance, could be a Melbourne-style if-you-know-you-know wine bar. And that’s kind of the point.

“I see this as a sort of wine bar, but for cereal,” says SUNY’s founder, Suny, who wanted to bring a fresh approach to the types of cereal bars people might have visited overseas.

“Those always seem to have a stoner vibe—video games and a couch kind of thing,” he explains. Not at SUNY.

Instead, Suny says the focus is on a “curated” experience with “the perfect spoon, the perfect bowl, milk chilled to the perfect temperature”. And course, the perfect cereal.

Cereal-lovers can choose from a menu featuring a comprehensive list of international and Australian brands—including the stuff childhood dreams (and sugar-phobic parental nightmares) are made of. Think: Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, Reese’s Puffs and Cookie Crisp (to answer your question—yes, the cereal pieces are tiny chocolate chip cookies).

Cookie Crisp.

Naturally, there are some more, well, natural choices too, like Corn Flakes and a range of mueslis. Dietary requirements are also catered for, with gluten-free options available.

Cereal orders are paired with a (perfectly chilled) milk of choice, ranging from oat and nut m*lks by Minor Figures to Bonsoy, and cows milk from Fyshwick neighbours Canberra Milk.

But if you thought the focus on cereal was cute, wait until you see the location.

Housed in a repurposed weigh station in the up-and-coming Dairy Road precinct, SUNY has refreshed the industrial exterior with a pop of blue and yellow but kept the fishbowl smoked glass frontage.

The result is decidedly playful—ensuring that curiosity will be piqued from a distance. It’s also decidedly tiny, with just three by three metres of space to play with inside. But that suits Suny just fine.

“I’ve been to Japan a couple of times and it made me think about space differently—seeing these tiny Shibuya bars that are a metre by a metre but manage to fit three people. So I thought, ‘I’ll make it work’.”

Lucky Charms.

As for why a wine bar for cereal instead of, say, a wine bar, Suny says nostalgia plays a big role.

“Cereal is so unique—each box has its own story, history and nostalgic value. There are few things that bring that much emotion. It’s interesting witnessing people look at the big cereal wall we have—everyone always has a story attached to some box of cereal.”

There are also some more pragmatic elements at play.

“My own personal experience is that I eat a lot of cereal,” laughs Suny. “I don’t eat it for breakfast—I eat it at 2 pm for a cheeky pick-me-up.”

There’s also a SUNY blue soft serve on the menu—with a sprinkling of cereal, of course—and diner-style coffee.

Got milk?

Cookie Crisp.

Photos courtesy of SUNY Cereal Bar