Cafe Avanti

You'll find Cafe Avanti tucked away on Merkland Street in the West End, where the crowd's usually a mix of locals grabbing their morning fix and folk who've made the pilgrimage from other parts of the city. It's the kind of place that doesn't need to shout about itself—the coffee's honest, the food's straightforward Italian, and there's a real sense that someone's actually bothered to get the details right. The vibe is unpretentious; you can sit with your espresso for five minutes or camp out with a mate for an hour and nobody's going to rush you.