If Sydney has a current fixation with pared-back minimalism, Superfreak politely ignores it. Located on Enmore Road in Marrickville, the café – designed by the Sydney-based architecture and interior design firm YSG Studio and housed in the former (famed) Serendipity ice-cream factory – leans into texture, colour and a certain 70s-inflected sociability. Think cork underfoot, yellow walls and glossy green datums – a “soulful sanctuary” spinning plates of “nourishing eats from sunup to mid-afternoon,” describes YSG’s Founding Director Yasmine Ghoniem. It’s confident, nostalgic, slightly surreal, and – importantly – entirely committed to mood.
A partner venue of LEIF, Superfreak and YSG reflect our shared sensibility, grounded in tactility, atmosphere, and the emotional resonance of well-considered spaces. We caught up with Ghoniem and the venue’s co-owner Mike Ico to talk about how the future classic came to be, and why looking backwards can sometimes be the most progressive move forward.
Photography by Phillip Huyhn.
In conjuring this singular venue in Sydney’s cool inner west, Ico describes the briefing process as unusually hands-off. “We gave them our food and beverage concept and let them run wild,” he says. The team approached YSG following a previously unrealised project together; a collaboration that lingered in the imagination. This time around, the alignment was immediate. “What you see is pretty much the first concept they sent us.”
That sense of creative trust carries obviously through the space. Despite the compact 75-square-metre footprint, the interior feels layered and immersive rather than busy. A far cry from the white shell – pale timber joinery, linoleum floors, generous street-facing light – that YSG began with. To bring Superfreak’s, well… freaky identity to life, the studio gutted the interior completely, opting instead for a palette that would feel grounding and atmospheric.
Sealed cork floors introduced a softness that is immediately perceptible the moment customers enter the space. There is bounce underfoot, a subtle acoustic hush that shifts the tempo of the room. Maple joinery brings tonal warmth, while walls and ceilings are saturated in what Ghoniem describes as “a comforting vat of mellow buttery yellow”, offset by a high-gloss green that drops down from the ceiling in graphic bands. When customers step foot inside, she wants it to feel like “the sun’s hitting their face and warming them down to their toes.
“When you think of the 70s, you automatically cue thoughts of chilling out, laying back and feeling the abundance of real time — which is the opposite of how we all operate these days.”
The spatial centrepiece is a lounge-like enclosure – what Ghoneim describes as a “nucleic conversation pit” that references 1970s domestic interiors without veering into pastiche. Upholstered in retro-toned chocolate carpet, the seating wrap includes a custom record cabinet with integrated vinyl storage, encouraging diners to settle rather than circulate.
The music element wasn’t incidental. Ico and his business partner Daniel Harrison supplied their own vinyl collection, reinforcing the sense that Superfreak operates somewhere between café and living room – a hospitality space that feels personal without feeling precious.
“We are incredibly happy with the final result. We feel that it is unique not only in a hospitality space but also all of the pieces sourced for us from incredible designers.”
The material decisions throughout also demonstrate a preference for tactility over spectacle. The cork floors absorb sound and warmth, for example, while the toffee-toned maple joinery introduces visual density. The carpet-clad banquette seating injects the room’s geometry with an unexpected softness. Of the design, Ghoniem describes “harnessing the power of nature to amplify energy” – an approach that aligns with Superfreak’s produce-led menu, which leans nourishing without feeling prescriptive (think herby spinach frittatas with jalapeno tequila relish on the Morning Roll, a Market Plate laden with comte cheese, jammy eggs, pickles, herb labneh and house-made focaccia, or sandwiches packed with LP’s Quality Meats mortadella, stracciatella and basil pesto).
The chosen interior palette shifts subtly across the day, with morning light intensifying the gloss green surfaces, and afternoon sun warming the yellow tones. The overall effect is calibrated and relaxed – the kind of place where you stop in for a coffee and find yourself not wanting to leave until the furniture is being packed up around you.
Elsewhere, objects accumulate like small discoveries. A sculptural lamp by American artist Autumn Casey introduces a slightly surreal note near the entry, vintage timber dining chairs sourced from 1st Dibs punctuate the space with familiar silhouettes, and silk-striped curtains printed by Think Positive soften the open kitchen line, doubling as a screen that can be lifted for occasional DJ sets.
Ceramic works by artist Mechelle Bounpraseuth – including a custard apple balanced on a pink washing basket and a bánh mì rendered in clay – introduce a punchline of domestic humour. And a metallic corner mirror catches golden light at seated eye level, subtly expanding the venue’s footprint.
“When I’ve popped into a space we’ve designed and I see them running their fingers over a beautiful seat fabric, or gliding them across a timber surface, that gives me a buzz because they’re literally connecting to the setting, and with that usually comes a winding down… Our role is to always make people feel welcome, and never intimidated.”
Superfreak and YSG are examples of an unusual level of alignment in hospitality design, where practical considerations often dilute conceptual clarity. And while the venue may be compact in size, it delivers something increasingly rare: an interior that privileges atmosphere over novelty; comfort over spectacle; personality over trend.
Somewhere to sit, listen, eat something comforting – and maybe linger longer than intended.
