Workshop Espresso — Restaurant in Sydney

When my most favourite concubine is visiting Sydney I am always up at the crack of dawn in order to enjoy her short visits before work. The Workshop Espresso has been serving me damn fine coffee for a number of years. It’s a coffee hole dug out of the side in the busiest area of George Street. The clang clang of the trams puts your mind to a kind of transient ‘ye ‘olde world’ experience. Coffee is always top notch and the peep traffic is constant so the staff are on front fun duty covering each other superbly. The taker of money, the maker of coffee and the coffee cryer makes sure the entire experience is smooth and efficient and friendly. I’ve never had a single issue getting my coffee in the 12 thousand coffees I have had. Workshop Espresso is at 500 George Street. Opposite the QVB, just thirty or so metres north of the Town Hall Station exit (George Street exit). They have also erected a narrow standing table on the fringe between the coffeehouse and the pavement. So you can stand back and drink your coffee and gaze on the multitudes passing you by. Always an opportunity to have a brief conversation about the weather, coffee or every once in a while you might be fortunate to have a deeper conversation on topics such as, ‘Was Nietzsche selfish?’ Or ‘How the beginnings of the cold war (1945-1990) the CIA kickstarted the boom in categorising bad art aka ‘weird art’ as Modern Art?’ Up to you when you have your coffee at...

This place took me by surprise by how tiny it actually is, especially after hearing all the good stuff about it. Despite the disproportionate crowd that almost always queue for coffee here, the staff seem to have unlimited energy, always so upbeat and passionate in making and serving every cup. Most people just take away, but I once got a seat inside and the staff managed to make me feel at ease by myself, sipping on the best Sydney coffee, in such a confined space with people all around. So if you fancy some quality coffee (which comes with the price it deserves) while comfortably watching people in the city, you know...

Has this place ever jumped the shark... Coffee is very overrated - can be passable, at times even good, but very much a commodity, quantity-first approach most of the time, with the quality you'd expect. And what is it with Sydney cbd cafes loudly and repeatedly yelling people's orders rather than just taking names?

They also lose an extra star for swapping a menu item I ordered through Hey You (but not actually available) with a lower priced item and not offering to refund the difference. Almost every other time I've ordered a bakery item through the app I've had to ask for it after being handed...