Leaf Espresso Bar

Recently moved to the area and have been coming to Leaf Espresso for a little over a week now. The coffee has always been excellent, some of the staff however… the main female on the register (short, young blonde) is always go grumpy and borderline RUDE… treating customers as if she’s being inconvenienced to do her job. The coffee just might not be worth it much longer.

Coming here every work morning is a pleasure. This place has a great community feel, with the staff knowing many of the customers on a first name basis, and knowing a little about each of their lives to make comment, and chat as friends. This is really nice, and makes a massive difference, and that’s what really pushes Leaf to that five star level.
The coffee is great, great baristas, consistent quality.
Décor is really nice, and you can walk right out to the back balcony also.
I have never eaten here, but imagine it would be consistent with the rest of the experience, and I’ve never seen the place without a diner (normally there are a few).
Tucked away in suburbia, Leaf is a an excellent escape from the rush of daily life. In fact I have considered stopping drinking coffee, but have had the issue of wondering what drink I can switch to, in order to ensure I have a reason to stop off here at Leaf.

Good food, good coffee, good people. A relaxing place for a morning coffee. I often come here with my laptop to get some work done.

Had an amazing coffee with avocado on toast. Service was great, orders were quick and looked amazing, so well presented when it was all served. The waitress was super friendly too and told us a few jokes really topped the morning. Have been here a few times and have never had a problem! Highly recommend it! :)

Moving to Holland Park West, this little place has become my local café along with another just around the corner from it in Esher St.
I first visited Leaf just after it opened and thought the food was only average, but since then they have had a change of menu and the food does seem to have gotten better. Everytime my husband and I go, we generally order the same thing — there is an awesome chorizo burger that he can’t go past, whilst I always get a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, tomato and toast. The scrambled eggs here are particularly delicious and creamy.
Coffee is OK for what it is, they use Two Seasons which comes from the same people as Piazza d’Oro, coffee has always been made reasonably but it tends to be a bit strong and robust for me so I usually order something else or get an iced latte.
There is usually a daily smoothie, and there are plenty of sandwiches and sweets in the window to grab on the run.
Its a reasonable local café, but someone not in the area wouldn’t have a cause to drive a long way just to visit.

It’s a nice little suburban café. The all day breakfast is delicious! Absolutely no complaints about the food and drinks what so ever. Highly recommended.
But I think due to the popularity of the place, especially on weekend mornings, the staff seem exhausted and completely run off their feet. It’s go, go, go, and I feel that they often have trouble keeping up. The long queue while one person takes orders, the self serve water jugs and cups running out within a minute of their renewal (and it’s often 10 – 15 minutes before someone has a chance to refill and replace them again). I can see that this definitely isn’t due to any incompetence. It’s just simply too busy for them to keep up with the demand. The hire of additional staff could be a solution, however it does appear to be pretty cramped behind that counter as it is. Perhaps a special order counter with four registers opened (McDonald’s style) could speed up the ordering process. And someone specifically allocated to water top up duty (Sizzler salad bar staff style). This all costs money though, but it’s food for thought. Having said that, I must again stress that the food they make is worth the wait.

Leaf Espresso Bar is truly a hidden gem. It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to think it’s unlikely anyone who does not live in the suburb would think to find this café bar, because it is well nestled in the greenery of mature tree lined suburbia. Even the frontage seemed initially unassuming. Leaf Espresso Bar sits at the end of a very short row of shops, so enjoys a corner office with outdoor decking, umbrella protected al fresco seating. It’s only when you walk past the counter and kitchen that you get a glimpse of the Nordic interior design elements within — round glass globe bulbs dangle like snow globes from between the massive tree branch suspended from the ceiling and the Christmas ornaments still attached to the branch.
Coffees that Saturday morning seemed extremely popular, so it made sense that Mr Barista would face out towards the clientele to maximise his cheeky smile and warm ‘What can I get you?’. Oh, if only I wasn’t a married woman…
But at 8am, coffee should never be a wallflower — breakfast is practically compulsory on an empty stomach. Leaf Espresso Bar’s breakfast selection is wide and varied.
For the simple breakfast customer, there were a selection of Danishes, croissants (regular, icing sugar dusted and chocolate) and muffins on top of the cool display. We picked up a chocolate croissant, a blueberry muffin and a custard latticed pastry to take to the in-​laws for morning tea. The croissant doesn’t have that crisp buttery flake that reminds one of dry autumn leaves as a very traditional croissant, but it is still quite light and fluffy. And the custard latticed pastry didn’t last 2 seconds.
If you wanted to up it a notch, there were sausage rolls, sandwiches and bacon and egg muffins that one could order to be heated and consumed on-​site or whisked away in a paper bag.
But if you really wanted to go super swanky, you can order off the menu. The menu items are by no means ho-​hum. There were the classics — raisin toast with maple butter, mix and match muesli with seasonal fruit, avocado on toast with ricotta and lemon… And then there’s the slightly fancy smancy stuff — breakfast bruschetta (sardines with caper, dill, radish and lemon relish or poached pear and almond with cinnamon crème friache), mushroom medley wilted spinach with parmesan and poached egg on ciabatta and balsamic glaze, etc.

Good coffee, great location — this place sprung up near my work earlier this year and I am so grateful. The brilliant thing about this place is the in house made food — it’s so hard to avoid the fresh muffins that sit in a tray next to the counter cooling. Some little things could be improved (which they are working on I am sure); specifically their EFTPOS minimum makes it frustrating to just by one coffee and the lack of wifi and slow line up /​ordering process. Beyond that its a great place and the best coffee in the Salisbury/​Tarragindi areas.

Great coffee! Great service! Great atmosphere! Loving leaf! This place is just what the suburb needed and a great place to catch up with friends and loved ones. Great for a morning coffee or an afternoon snack.