L'Espresso has been quietly excellent since the early 1990s — a narrow, tile-floored Italian-style café on Sturt Street with a record store at the back and Ballarat's most reliable espresso at the front. The food is small (pastries, simple breakfasts, a daily lunch); the coffee is the reason to go.
Locals queue at 8 a.m. on weekends. The records (mostly jazz, classical, soul) are a working stock, not decoration.