From Tokyo to New York: The best spots where creative people gather, connect, and make things happen.
Vienna
Gota Coffee Experts
GOTAis a specialty coffee shop on Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna's 15th district, roasting their own beans in-house and recently named the 3rd best coffee shop in the world and best in Europe. The kind of place that takes coffee seriously without making you feel like a tourist for ordering milk. Cosy, unpretentious, and reliably excellent.
gota.coffeeSydney
Toby's Estate Coffee Roasters
Toby's Estate Coffee Roasters is part coffee shop, part roastery, with an island brew bar that puts you right next to the baristas and a glass wall straight in…Toby's Estate in Chippendale is part coffee shop, part roastery — with an island brew bar that puts you right next to the baristas and a glass wall straight into the roasting room. Recently crowned the world's best coffee shop by the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops list.
tobysestate.com.auMelbourne
Rose Street Market
Rose Street Artists Market is a weekend market on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy that has been running for over 20 years, showcasing local artists, designers, and makers. It's the longest-running artists market in Melbourne and a genuine community gathering point for the creative industries.
rosestmarket.com.auLondon
Burley Fisher Books
Burley Fisher Books
is an independent bookshop in Haggerston, East London, specialising in indie
presses and zines. Named London's Bookshop of the Year in both 2021 and 2022,
it stocks new and second-hand books and runs its own risograph printing press
for the local creative community.
burleyfisherbooks.comGlasgow
Ottoman Coffeehouse
Ottoman Coffeehouse was founded by two siblings who travelled to Istanbul to learn the art of Ottoman coffee culture and is now one of Glasgow's most distinctive spots. Choose your brewing method, choose your beans, settle into the warmly decorated space and stay a while.
ottomancoffeehouse.co.ukLiverpool
Love Lane Brewery
Love Lane Brewery is a Baltic Triangle brewery and taproom housed in a former World War II-bombed rubber factory, with views into the working brewery from the bar. Their Love Lane beers and Higson's ales are brewed on site, and the food menu is genuinely solid.
lovelanebrewing.comZurich
Café Sprüngli
Café Sprüngli at Paradeplatz is a Zurich institution — a confectionery and cafe on this spot since 1859. The Luxemburgerli macarons are the thing to get, but the cafe itself is a proper old-school European patisserie worth sitting in for a coffee when you're in the Altstadt.
sprungli.chMunich
Haus der Kunst
Haus der Kunst is one of Europe's leading venues for international contemporary art. It has no permanent collection, which means the programme is always fresh and the building feels different every time you visit. Ten or more exhibitions run annually across the large Bavarian neoclassical building next to the English Garden. Big names and rigorous programming.
hausderkunst.de/enMontreal
Polari
Polari is a natural wine bar in a converted garage in Villeray with an eight-seat counter, a handful of communal tables, and a wine list built around low-intervention producers. Snacks run to tinned fish, Quebec charcuterie, and Hof Kelsten bread. No reservations, open from 4pm daily.
polari.vinCalgary
Shokunin
Shokunin in Mission is chef Darren MacLean's modern izakaya, fusing Japanese techniques with Canadian ingredients. Since 2015 it's been one of the most respected restaurants in the country, with a menu built around yakitori, small plates, and a strong sake and cocktail list. The 50-seat room is lively and the food is genuinely ambitious without being stuffy.
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