Mezzapica

Were all the Italians occupying every table and wall nook a rent-​a-​crowd to impress up[on me the genuine Italianness (totally a word) of this Norton St café?
Because it worked. Boy howdy, did it work. Italian businessmen drinking espressos with their cuffs rolled up and gold watches on show. Young, brash Italian baristas laughing and cracking jokes above the steam screams and milky froth of the coffee machines. And is that a nonna in the corner knitting something for her young nephew, a nephew called Raphael but whose name will be shortened to Raffa by proud relatives who ruffle his hair and slip him sweets when they think nobody else is looking?
Just being around these dudes made my coffee taste better.

In a brazen attempt to allow Mezzapica to get the four-​star rating it deserves, I have erred a little towards wanton enthusiasm for the place. Come at me.
Leichhardt is known for Italian-​inspired fare, and I was really happy with our breakfast experience at Mezzapica. A lazy Sunday, two other mates, and copious caffeine had us off to a good start.
The full breakfast was amazing — very occasionally, I can hear my arteries still creaking from the enormity of bacon, eggs, chorizo, hash browns and halloumi — and worth the cash. Moreover, the service was excellent, with both a waiter and waitress being attentive and friendly.
As a rabid football fan, the pictures of Paolo Maldini on the walls were a bonus. My man-​crush on him is reaching ‘Women in Love’, fireside wrestling levels.

Every day I walk up Norton street to catch a bus from outside the public school. This journey means that I walk past Mezzapica. A café on the corner of Malborough street and Norton Street. A café that has the strongest aroma of custard.
Every time I walk past the establishment I get hit with a bizarre urge to eat a custard pie, it takes me back to my days working in a bakery, that sweet custard in the air outside of a café famous for its cakes.
And like the old eternal question, «What came first the chicken or the egg?» We have to ask ourselves, what came first the coffee or the cake?
Next door to Mezzapica is their shop dedicated entirely to cakes, they are cake caterers. Weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvah’s, cakes for any occasion. And then in the café, smaller less ornate but equally as tasty, these cakes are served with coffee.
The café is always busy and it’s a great location for a quiet brew and a just as quiet friand. Situated on the quieter side of Norton Street, the outside seating isn’t too loud and the coffee and cake is scrumptious, and FYI, the egg came first.