Just Open: Capeside Coffee, Heidelberg

"We thought setting up in a saturated area would be a hard ask," says first-time cafe owner Hannah Lancman, "but there's nothing around here at all."

"Here" is Heidelberg, where Lancman (once head barista at Ora Specialty Coffee in Kew) and business partner Parv Bhullar (ex-Ora, Press Club Group) just opened Capeside Coffee in a building that should have been an apartment ... before they got their hands on it.

They've built the ground-floor space into a cool white cube with an island bar featuring a La Marzocco espresso machine and a Bonavita filter brewer.

Coffee comes from Seven Seeds and Small Batch – familiar enough for locals to know what they are getting into, Lancman says, though folks are still getting their heads around the filter coffee: "You explain it's American-style coffee and people say, 'Heck, no!' "

More brew-bar than cafe, there are daily-changing sandwiches made in-house, alongside sweet bites from the likes of Bakewell and Co and Windsor Deli.

Open Mon-Fri 7am-4pm; Sat 8am-3pm.

119 Cape Street, Heidelberg capesidecoffee.com