L’Arte

L’Arte is adorable. You’ll find it along the leafy nest of Riding Road in Balmoral. You’ll see signs with cute quips about coffee out the front and their black and white summer outdoor table settings out the front of the store.
When you walk in you’ll find yourself within a very incoherently curated gallery space. It’s coherent simply because the fine folk at L’Arte like to sell local people’s art. It’s almost a free for all. If there’s wall space free, it may as well be yours!
The girls behind the counter wear genuine, big, toothy grins and are happy to joke with you. They’ve got a nice collection of T2 teas available and their coffee is second to none.
The cakes are exquisite little mouthfuls. I chose a citrus tart which was beyond decadent. There was orange custard cream in the middle, candied orange slices set in a hard passionfruit cream on top. It was divine.
It’s not so much the kind of place where you dash in and out to get a coffee and run. It invites you to spend time there, just chillin’, catching up on some quality you time.
They don’t have an EFTPOS limit either. A new favourite.

Don’t be quick to judge these guys for making a corny coffee pun; they originally started as just an art gallery (L’Arte = «the art») in Mt Tambourine, with the addition of their Balmoral ‘wall art/​espresso bar’ happening a couple of years ago. As someone who’s been accused of not really ‘getting’ art, I’m glad they’ve branched out, as I definitely understand coffee.
The java is made and served with love, accompanied by a tasty and nutty biscotti, which is a nice touch. I’m yet to try the food but they have some interesting looking options like ‘Pancakes with banana & honeycomb butter’ and ‘Zucchini & avocado fritters with bacon, balsamic & slow-​roasted tomato’. On a fine day you can take your meal out on their pretty outdoor deck.
Inside is the art gallery section, which is really more like a gift and home wares shop. There are some cool kooky earrings, handmade gift cards and funky purses for $ 5 – 40 as well as quite large paintings with four-​digit price-​tags.