Workshop Espresso

Where: Workshop Espresso, 500 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Coffee Bean: Toby’s Estate (special blend called Kenya)

I’ve always had my eye on Workshop Espresso. Located just across the road from the QVB, corporate and retail workers alike have long made it part of their weekday morning ritual. It’s a sleek little shop front with a small, dark interior fitted with wooden panels and industrial-style finishes.

So, after accidently arriving half an hour early to meet a friend in Town Hall, I finally had an excuse to try it out.

Workshop Espresso

Workshop Espresso is a pick-up-and-go kind of place: they’ll give you takeaway unless you ask for have in. There is limited seating inside, with awkward bench seating the only option if you want to sit down with a mug and read the paper. But you probably don’t want to. Hectic morning crowds, traffic/pedestrian noise pouring in from George Street, and limited space mean you’ll probably struggle to focus.

Caffeinated drinks are clearly Workshop’s forte, but there is also a small range of treats and snacks on display.

I went with a flat white ($4.00).

It emerged within a couple of minutes. Temperature-wise, it was spot-on – hot, but not undrinkable. It was in a take-away cup, so no latte art or nice aromas.

Flat White

The taste surprised me. Given the corporate following, I was expecting punchy, robust flavours to power even the most apathetic businessperson through his morning routine. Instead, it’s a really mild and sweet blend. I didn’t find it bitter at all – incredible for a Toby’s Estate bean! This could be down to the lid on the cup, concealing the aroma. Regardless, the drink still packs a powerful caffeine hit and will wake you up. You just don’t get that full-bodied tang of slightly bitter coffee flavour.

I enjoyed the coffee, but I suspect that the flavour was somewhat diluted by too much milk. $4.00 is very steep for a regular-sized coffee. However, to be fair, this is quite a decent-sized regular – only slightly smaller than some large-sized coffees. Another negative: black texta on the take-away lid makes it a bit tricky to drink without getting ink on your nose.

If you prefer mild-flavoured coffee, Workshop Espresso does it well. Service is extremely efficient and staff are friendly. Morning coffee-rush chaos is definitely a thing, but there seems to be a really good system in process to help deal with the crowds.

Yays:

• Nice interior and décor
• Convenient location in the CBD
• Good, quick service

Nays:

• Overly milky coffee
• Cramped space, not good for sitting-in
• Expensive for a regular coffee
• Busy in mornings

Overall experience:

75% – Distinction!

Get Fresh

Get Fresh @ Bondi Junction Westfield

Where: Get Fresh Café, Level 2, Bondi Junction Westfield, 500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022

Coffee Bean: Toby’s Estate

A day of wandering about Bondi Beach, working out buses and suffering in 30°C+ heat drove us to the air-conditioned safe haven of Westfield. We decided to stop for a quick afternoon pick-me-up before calling it a day.

Get Fresh is a humble little café situated in the middle of the Level 2 thoroughfare, near Myer. Its facilities are wooden and crisp, and its menu boasts unusual delicacies such as ‘dandelion lattes’ – though this isn’t really enough to suppress the ‘shopping centre’ vibe the café radiates. As is often the case with cafés in big shopping centres, Get Fresh lacks that immersive, timeless atmosphere. But this is more to do with the space than the décor or menu.

It being a bit late in the day for a caffeine hit, we both ordered the Byron Chai Latté ($4.30). Erin got honey with hers, which came on a little side dish rather than added in.

Byron Chai Latté

The lattés were served steaming hot. We had to wait about 5 minutes before they were at a drinkable temperature. One sip tells you that Get Fresh uses real, freshly brewed chai tea – no sugary chai-flavoured powders here. The sprinkle of cinnamon on top doesn’t overpower the flavours. Indeed, it doesn’t seem to add flavour much at all.

+ Honey

In fact, this was a pretty mild-tasting drink all round. Not even the chai taste is dominant in this drink. It’s just very, very milky. Teapot-brewed chai tea has a tendency to be milky, it’s true, but chai tea can definitely be stronger in taste than this.  The honey makes a sweeter drink, though adds nothing in terms of flavour. The drink doesn’t hold up well in its latte form, either, with minimal, quickly disintegrating foam on top.

Overall, Get Fresh doesn’t seem like a bad place to go for a quick pick-me-up during a hectic day shopping. It’s convenient and it has some interesting menu options. And, granted, we didn’t try the coffee, so we might have missed out there. However, in terms of café experience and atmosphere, Get Fresh is lacking the right vibes to make it a viable place to really unwind.

Yays:

• Convenient, if you’re shopping at Westfield
• Air-conditioned
• Uses real tea for chai lattes

Nays:

• Chai latte tended to be flavourless, milky, unexceptional
• Café lacked atmosphere
• Noisy
• Overpriced drinks

Overall experience:

55% -- Pass!

Lamrock Café

Lamrock Café

Where: Lamrock Café, 72-76 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach, NSW 2026

Coffee Bean: Di Stefano

Lamrock Café is located just across the road from Bondi Beach. It was a swelteringly perfect summer’s day when we caught the bus down from Bondi Junction, and as such we had an amazing view of the deep blue ocean when we took a table outside the café. Lamrock radiates ‘beachy’ vibes: chilled out music, white-washed décor and a lazy all-day breakfast menu.

Pretty Awesome View!

The menus were pretty cute, stapled to worn paper bags and hung by the handles on the back of the chairs. The waitress came by our table with a bottle of water and two glasses filled with ice, which was great service seeing as how hot it was getting.

Their food menu isn’t extensive, composed of all-day breakfast items, lunch and drinks variety. Julia ordered the Big Bondi Breakfast ($14.90) and her usual regular latté ($3.80), and Erin went with a Vegetarian Panini ($14.90) and a regular flat white ($3.80).

To be perfectly honest, the latté was a bit bland for me. Maybe I was just particularly starved for coffee or something, but it seemed to be missing that aromatic bitter punch of caffeine that I like. Presentation was nothing spectacular either. For $3.80, it was a bit disappointing.

Flat White

Same, same for the flat white. It was pretty standard, with some nice fruity flavours. There was just nothing exceptional about it at all. If all you’re after is a pick-me-up, coffees from Lamrock will do the trick – and that’s about it. No great textures, tastes or finishes. At $3.80, definitely overpriced. 

At the risk of sounding like a grump, the food wasn’t that great, either. Big Bondi Breakfast comes with two eggs cooked according to preferences, bacon, mushrooms, sausage, hash brown, tomato and multigrain sourdough. I asked for poached eggs and—dun dun dun—they were cooked through, more like boiled eggs, and nearly cold. Bleargh. Bacon was almost too crispy (if there is such a thing), to the point of being almost burnt (you can see in the photo, if you squint). If you like to eat your bacon like crackers, then you might be happy with it. The sausage, on the other hand, could have used some more colour.

Big Bondi Breakfast

Mushrooms were nothing special. The hash brown was good, though—nice and crunchy and hot. Tomato? It’s tomato. Grilled. The multigrain sourdough was another good thing: nicely toasted. But the little packet of butter that came with it was completely melted! When I opened it, it spilled onto my fingers and made a greasy mess. Not nice. I get that it’s a hot day, but it’s Australia, it’s summer, it’s Bondi, and really, shouldn’t they have a way to keep the butter cool or something?

Vegetarian Panini

It would have been a good value meal for $14.90 if all the elements were done well. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

The Panini was less of an underwhelming experience. It was stuffed with spinach, grilled halomi and roasted spiced pumpkin, and finished off with generous dollops of mayonnaise. Eating it was messy, and there was probably too much mayonnaise. Nonetheless, the Panini itself was fresh and crunchy, and the fillings tasty. I found it easier to eat after cutting it in half.

It seems the only exceptional thing about the Lamrock Café is its location: just across the road from Bondi Beach, you'll cool down with an ocean breeze and impressive views of the sea (though somewhat obscured by the traffic). For tourists, this is probably enough. If you're looking for a more refined dining experience, you're better off going elsewhere.

Yays:

• Great location; the view is amazing.
• Good service; iced water is a plus. 

Nays:

• Coffee was bland.
• Food could be better: they should especially work on their poached eggs, other reviews on the internet report same problems.
• Execution of food and drinks leaves much to be desired.
• No air-conditioning – thank goodness for the ocean breeze!

Overall Experience:

60% -- Pass!

Three Williams

Where: Three Williams, 613a Elizabeth Street, Redfern NSW 2016

Coffee Bean: Single Origin Roasters

Sometimes, lonesome lunches are the best lunches. Three Williams is just a couple of doors down from the Aboriginal Legal Service in Redfern, where I volunteer once a week. It’s a favourite for its convenience, friendly service and yummy food.

Three Williams

Three Williams is set up in what looks like it should be a furniture showroom. It’s a big, industrial-style space with a central counter and plenty of seating all around. There’s even room for a children’s play area at the back. Staff are unfailingly, almost freakishly friendly (not quite, I’m just always surprised by how nice they are). You’ll be greeted with a smile and a joke at the door, and quickly shown to a seat.

I had a flat white ($3.70 – it’ll cost you 20 cents less if you order your coffee takeaway) and the Bircher muesli ($13).

Flat White (w/ bubbles)

The flat white came out quickly and was finished with some impressive latte art. More exciting, though, was the milk: soon after it came out small bubbles started to form on the surface. In my experience, small bubbles = well stretched milk. The foam was creamy and smooth. One sip of the coffee packs a lovely fruity punch, leaving you with a slightly acidic aftertaste. It’s good, strong coffee if you’re not afraid of a little bitterness.

The only downside was that it wasn’t very hot. Not a problem for me, but if you want your coffee hotter than just hot enough you’ll have to specify.

Bircher Muesli

Not long after the coffee, the Bircher muesli was served. The sweetness of the creamy muesli was offset by fresh tangy, fruity flavours. Strawberries, shaved melon, passion fruit, blueberries, raspberries, vanilla yoghurt and refreshing mint leaves topped the cold muesli mush. Nice and cool, perfect for a summer breakfast (or lunch). Unfortunately, it’s a small portion for $13 and probably not worth the hefty price.

Probably worth mentioning: Julia and I went here for lunch about a week ago (we didn’t get coffee, hence no review). But we were accidently overcharged about $35, apparently having paid for the owner’s lunch. The staff were really nice about it (as usual) and offered a refund by cash or on my card.

Three Williams offers a great café experience. The food is pricey, but it’s delicious and well executed – and if you’re a foodie this is probably all you want. Even if it wasn’t convenient, I would go to the trouble of seeking Three Williams out.

Yays:

• Good coffee and well-stretched milk
• Great food
• Friendly, friendly service
• Plenty of seating (at least on weekdays)
• Wheelchair access
• Children’s play area

Nays:

• The coffee isn’t served very hot
• Prices are expensive, especially for food
• Mistakes with billing have been known to happen

Overall Experience:

85% -- High Distinction!

Sly

Sly @ Surry Hills

Where: Sly, 212 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Coffee Bean: Roastworks Coffee Co. (apparently a special blend called Snow Queen)

We almost walked past Sly: a quiet, inconspicuous shop front on Devonshire Street. There are no shop signs announcing the café to passersby, though it is marked with the street number 212. 

Sly is easy to miss, but well worth seeking out.

Sly has a great atmosphere.

The décor of Sly is all dark, calm and shady browns, with rustic overtones: exposed brickworks and dark, unpolished wood paneling; jaunty country music in the background; wooden tables with low stools; cowboy hats hanging on the walls and decorative glass jars serving as makeshift lamps. It gives rise to a chillaxed atmosphere. It’s obviously a good place to study: there were a couple of people with laptops catching up on some work. There’s no air conditioning but the space doesn’t seem to let that much heat in anyway. A small fan was whirling at the back.

We were greeted by two friendly servers the moment we walked in. The café wasn’t busy and our orders were taken and served quite quickly—always a plus in our books.

Cappuccino

Julia went with a cappuccino ($3.50), which had everything you can expect from a nice cup of coffee. The first mouthful gives you a hit of that intense coffee-taste: that strong, slightly bitter, but somehow satisfying punch of good coffee—though if you aren’t a regular coffee-drinker, you might find it a little too strong. I added two teaspoons of sugar to it even though I usually don’t take sugar in my coffee, to soften the flavour a little. All in all, it was a pretty standard experience, the kind that makes you go, ‘Mm, nice coffee’, but nothing overly exciting otherwise.

Reverse Iced Coffee

Erin, on the other hand, decided to be adventurous and ordered the reverse iced coffee ($4.00). Which turned out to be, literally, iced coffee. The waiter brought out a tumbler holding two dark, icy chunks, accompanied by a glass bottle of cold milk. The chunks were cubes of frozen espresso. You’re supposed to pour the desired amount of milk into the tumbler (depending on how strong you like your coffee) and let the coffee-ice melt. What results is a cool and refreshing pick-me-up, perfect for a hot summer day.

Frozen Espresso Cubes!

This is definitely not your average iced coffee. It’s innovative and exciting to drink – no sickly sweet cream or ice cream. However, it isn’t faultless. The melting ice means that the drink eventually becomes more watery than milky. And if you don’t wait for the ice to melt sufficiently, the drink is just tasteless, slightly watery milk. $4.00 is pricey for frozen espresso and what is essentially milk poured straight out of the carton.

Final Result

But I wasn’t disappointed with this drink. It was refreshing, interesting and definitely not what I was expecting. You won’t get a really strong coffee kick out of Sly’s reverse iced coffee, so if you want something stronger ask for more coffee-cubes or go for hot coffee.

If you’re feeling hungry, Sly also offers jaffles, toasties and salads.

Sly is inconspicuous, though not unremarkable. They take the execution of their drinks really seriously and push the boundaries. We’re going back in winter to try the strawberry hot chocolate and peanut butter hot chocolate. It’s easy to miss if you’re in a hurry down Devonshire Street. But if you’re after some really interesting drinks and snacks, or if you just want a cool, quiet place to catch up on some uni work, Sly is the place to try.

Yays:

• Lovely atmosphere, perfect for studying.
• Quick and friendly service.
• Interesting drinks menu—the reverse iced coffee was quite something, and we’re eager to try the strawberry hot chocolate in a few months.

Nays:

• Not a great selection of food menu, which also seems somewhat pricey.
• For drinks, standard hot coffees are decently priced but if you want to try something different, the novelty will cost you.
• Locating the café can be tricky!

Overall Experience:

80% -- Distinction!