L'voire - Balmain

Joined the Balmain crowd at a warm and friendly music and food venue. Friendly owners. Great food. Fantastic live music. Cosy and warm. Food is tasty and meatballs to die for, pizza fantastic. BYO. Great value.

We had 3 different meals and each one hit the spot perfectly. Baked eggs, Morning Burger and the Fennel salad highly recommended. The couple that run this cafe are both French Cordon Bleu trained and it shows. They make all their own cakes and tarts and they taste as good as they look. Fabulous local cafe that deserves patronage.

L'Voire (means Even) is usually a daytime cafe serving good coffee, breakfasts, brunch and lunches. My wife goes there on occasions for a take away coffee. While she was there last week the manager told her about their occasional night time openings with music and share plates that was scheduled for Friday, April 21 with a chap called Damien Jones on the piano. They don't have a licence, so it was a BYO wine night with a $5.00 cover charge. It sounded a good idea so she booked us in.This cafe would be full with 3 dozen people in it with the baby grand taking up a fair it of space but on the night it was full to the brim with at least 50 plus the wait staff! Consequently every table was arranged cheek by jowl and you couldn't avoid eye contact and an introduction to your neighbours which was a really nice thing. Kids it doesn't pay to be anti-social - read on!And what a great night it was. The small share plates were $10/12 or $22 each. We chose Meatballs, Baked Asparagus and Mushrooms, Tandoori Chicken Wings and a plate of taters. As our table at the foot of the piano was really a hallway type half table we asked for them to come out one at a time as there was so little room after our small rectangular dishes, the wine glasses, water glasses, water jug and my bottle of wine were on the top. This was not a problem for us or the staff and it helped the progressive dinner nature of the night. Damien opened with a bracket of Billy Joel songs and impressed. He announced he was going to play 2 brackets of songs but ended up by playing 4 brackets including show tunes from Ivor Novello, MOR Beatles songs, songs in Italian and French. Where we knew the choruses, everyone joined in singing along with him. The room was full of smiles. My neighbour, Dennis, offered me a glass of his superior Cab Sav to my Shiraz and I was more than happy to take up his offer and share the bottle with him and his friends. There were smiles all round as we queued up to pay after a rousing encore of Elvis's "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" and "I Still Call Australia Home".It's a wonderful buzz when you get a room full of people who know their music stretching back over 60 years all singing along with an entertainer like Damien. I understand this is not an every Friday event, the next one is on a Sunday afternoon. So it's always best for locals to drop in for coffee during the day, find out what's on next and when and always book as I'm sure many from Friday night will be back again for more of the same!

We had a late lunch here by default as place down the road had their kitchen shut before 2pm. I think we benefitted as a result. Great service here with comfortable old chairs to sit in and wonderful decor; I can't speak highly enough! We were three and two had the different pies with salad and one had the Avocado and Beetroot Salad (with feta and walnuts). Various other options also available including all day breakfast. All were delicious with the homemade chicken and leek pie (more like a pastry parcel) a winner. We also had interesting drinks - mango and mint frappe, watermelon and mint frappe and finally a mango smoothie. Apparently they also have live music most weeks, with byo it makes it an extra appealing option. Will definitely be back!

Good coffee, yummy food, pleasant surroundings and happy staff...what more could you ask for at your local coffee shop?!?This café is clearly a labour of love, making it a pleasant addition to the Balmain food scene. It is the sort of place where you don't mind lingering, even if no one happens to be playing the grand piano at the time of your visit.