Chicane, Sydney CBD

Toby’s estate coffee. 20 Bond St, Sydney. Really large, licensed restaurant feel indoors, where suited businessmen catch up for lunch and a beer or to split a bottle of wine. If you’re not in the mood for the full experience, an open window provides access to “chicane express” – takeaway coffees and breakfast and lunch …

Cafe Banksia, Sydney CBD

Toby’s Estate coffee. 1 Castlereagh St, Sydney. The last time I was drinking coffee here, it was a Hudson’s Coffee franchise store, but now it’s been remodelled. In the corner, two chesterfields with a coffee table, elsewhere are larger tables and benches with stools: there are a range of options for eating in. They’re selling …

Workshop espresso, Sydney CBD

Workshop coffee / Toby’s Estate decaf. Shop RG01A, the Galeries Victoria, 500 George St, Sydney. Not much bigger than a hole in the wall, opposite the town hall side entrance to the QVB, there are two espresso machines and three grinders, and a kitchen out the back. Somehow they have crammed in a bench and …

The Frisky Goat, Wynyard

Genovese Coffee. Shop W39, Wynyard Station Arcade, Carrington Street,Sydney. In an arcade sits this little diamond in the rough. The food has a bit of an edge to it, and there is quite a wide range of choice for a relatively small place. There’s even a small amount of seating down one side, though you’ll …

Dragon Espresso, Chinatown (Sydney)

Pablo and Rusty’s coffee. Shop 18, 401-403 Sussex St, Sydney. Downstairs from Happy Chef, I’ve long wondered what the coffee was like, but had never been here at the right time of day – until now! It’s literally a hole in the wall, with no seating at all, but for the name, I thought I’d …

Red Hook on Park, Sydney CBD

Allpress Espresso coffee. 60 Park St, Sydney (opposite Starbucks). It might be considered brave to set up a cafe across the road from the first Starbucks in Sydney, but this place doesn’t seem worried. Modern design with lots of straight lines and a repetitive dance beat, and an interior colour palette that it mostly black …