187-191 High Street, North Willoughby
(02) 9967 2552
North Willoughby comes alive with the emergence of the new cool kid on the block: Dose Espresso. BariSTAR Sam Gabrielian’s latest project is the perfect showcase for this talented coffee professional. Sam has ticked all the boxes with his open planned, savvy, architecturally designed espresso bar, neatly tucked in behind a new suburban food concept on High Street, North Willoughby.
Sam is responsible for the coffee brand Caffe di Gabriel, a fast growing Sydney coffee business with a quality reputation. He has spent his coffee career as a barista in a busy Chatswood café, where he created a good following, and during this period he was also a competive barista champion.
Dose Espresso is fitted out with a customised graffiti covered Slayer espresso machine, specifically for delivering the black coffees. I can vouch for the single estate Guatemalan ristretto I had through this Ferrari of a machine, which blew my socks off and gave me faith in Sydney coffee business again. He also has a three group La Marzocco for his line up of takeaway milk based beverages, to keep the consistency levels in check.
The cool fitout is a mixture of very old wooden carpenters’ work benches with lots of workshop themed bits and pieces like old copper piping and coffee machine group handle hanging lights – very original. The café opens into a large sunny courtyard with lots of retro outdoor comfy furniture. You can park directly out the back and run in to get your morning coffee with ease.
The café also boasts a small shop roaster, where Sam and his team can roast single origin coffees to have through the various brew methods available at Dose.
Coffee is definitely the focus of the business, but the light food offering backs up the champion’s brew. During my short visit, I snacked on a craftsman built sandwich, which was lightly packed with all the right healthy ingredients and enclosed in quality quinoa and soy thick cut bread from Brasserie Bread. After my ‘sanga’ settled, Sam kindly handed over an amazing gluten free, fat free, slice thingy that was definitely not fun free – it tasted great.
I can see a string of Dose Espressos springing up around our nation, as it is a great concept built around high quality food and beverage service.
Congratulations ‘Team Gabrielian’ – we will be back again soon.
