Soulmate Coffee

Cafes hastily crammed below new apartment blocks are notoriously hit and miss. Soulmate, on the other hand, nails the straightforward brief of good coffee matched with crowd-pleasing food. This place isn’t revolutionary, nor is it supposed to be. Soulmate is all about the classics, done with effortless style.

The all-day menu covers staples like tasty things on sourdough, porridge with seasonal fruit, and a fleet of two-handed options. The bacon and egg is a hangover buster of the highest order, involving house-made sambal, herby mayo and red Leicester cheese tucked in a soft potato bun.

The deli hoagie – a soft, pillowy thing stuffed with cold cuts, guindillas, tomato, provolone and crisp iceberg lettuce – is a midday mainstay. There’s also a chicken sando and a seasonal salad that’s absolutely worth your time.

Coffee is by Single O, with filter options poured from a pair of sleek taps; the only ones of their kind in the Newtown/Enmore nexus. A hit among Broadsheet staffers is the oat milk cold brew, spiked with maple syrup and cinnamon.

Diners can sit on stools on the horseshoe verandah facing the street, or nab a spot on the concrete step outside to caffeinate and solar charge. The pared-back look inside by North House Projects and Porter and Maple features blonde American oak seating and smooth, curvy counters doubling as retail space.