Artem Coffee Applecross review: April Ooi visits Perth brunch cafe for truffle udon, matcha, biscoff cake

When it comes to giving dating advice, I only have two lines on rotation: don’t worry, there’s so many more fish in the sea; and Mr Right could be just around the corner. Both have a 100 per cent chance of eliciting a groan from the unlucky advice-receiver. In a twist of events, I’ve recently had to take my own advice — not in relation to my boyfriend, but my other big love, food. The cafe I had wanted to go to was closed, but fortunately I had heaps more to choose from. And it’s an even better thing that the one I picked, Artem Coffee, was genuinely a walk away. The narrow cafe fits more tables than you’d think. On a Saturday morning, there was a healthy mix of weekend brunch-time gossipers, first-daters, and main character energy solo sippers. It makes you feel cool to be there, and the menu definitely reflects this. I had the truffle udon ($26) with smoked speck. There was a good amount of truffle sprinkled over the top, but the flavour only lightly carried over into the thick creamy sauce. The speck was super smoky and had a satisfying bite to it. Texturally, it got even more exciting with the fat chewy udon to slurp on. This is a killer brunch dish. I know Artem is known for its reuben ($28) but this was my first time trying it. I’m not even sure how they find bread so large, but a half was more than enough for my sister. The pastrami was soft without being mush, and the sauerkraut with the house sauce was intense but fantastic. We also tried the biscoff cheesecake ($8) and yuzu olive loaf ($6) from the cabinet. These were really well priced for what we got, and the biscoff cheesecake outranks a lot I’ve had recently. The yuzu olive loaf balanced salty, sweet and sour nicely. It’s not a cake flavour combo I see too often, but it was really nice. I played it pretty safe with drinks. I liked how rich the iced choc ($6) was, while the iced matcha was tame ($7.50) — not pinging with green tea flavour, but to its credit, not completely watered down. Overall I was impressed by the offerings at Artem Coffee, and I’ve recommended it to a few people since going. And I’m pretty sure my friends will like my food advice a lot better than my dating advice. Artem Coffee Shop 1/769 Canning Highway, Applecross OPEN Monday-Friday 6.30am-2pm; Saturday-Sunday 7am-2.30pm CONTACT 0411 099 313 BOOKINGS No THE VERDICT A solid neighbourhood cafe with an exciting menu that delivers on taste and presentation. 17.5/20