You can’t talk about Cafe 143 without talking about its owner, Charles Babinksi. Babinski is the founder of G&B and Go Get Em Tiger, two renowned LA coffee shop brands. He’s also a US barista champion, and was anointed a “high priest” of coffee by The New York Times in 2014. In the world of coffee, it doesn’t get much more elite than Babinksi.

And yet here he is, at the helm of a tiny cafe in Bronte that exudes so much baked-on neighbourhood charm it’s hard to believe Three Blue Ducks only left the site a few years prior.

The only tell-tale sign of Babinksi’s pedigree might be the futuristic La Marzocco Leva machine the team works on. Otherwise, you won’t find a lick of pretension at 143. Barefoot regulars line up from the early morning for cups of Mecca coffee, sandwiches and bargain little deli rolls on Iggy’s bread. On Wednesdays, there’s a plentiful produce stand from Bilpin’s Harvest Farms.

The best place to sit? It’s gotta be the pastel-pink laneway.