The Alchemist Espresso: Perfecting the coffee equation

The Alchemist Espresso

8 Carter Street, Cammeray

0418 977 082, facebook.com/thealchemistespresso

★★★★✰

THE LOWDOWN

Main attraction: Coffee made with scientific precision (literally!) and a good take on standard cafe dishes in a friendly setting

Must try: An avocado on toast dish that wins over kale sceptics and the pulled pork burger.

Insta worthy dish: The circle of pepita dust and seed-crusted lemon makes the smashed avo very easy to photograph.

Prices: From $5.50 for fairy bread to $15 for pulled pork burger.

Coffee: Gabriel Monte Carlo, Ichamama and Blue Roca, from $3.80 for espresso to $6 for iced latte.

Tea: Tea Drop, $4

Open: Monday-Friday 6.30am-3pm; Saturday-Sunday 7.30am-3pm.

Next up: A banoffee waffle and other new dishes. On Menck's wish list: the cafe switching to wine bar mode on Friday and Saturday nights.

Jonny Menck used to make vitamin pellets for sharks. In a former life, he invented pharmaceuticals in a compounding lab – and Sydney Aquariums was one of his many clients. But after 20 years in this field, he was keen for a change. His wife, Emma Fryar, was also keen to reboot her career. So for their 23rd wedding anniversary, they celebrated with the very romantic move of taking on a massive financial risk – they remortgaged their home to open The Alchemist Espresso in Cammerary.

So the cafe, which launched last August, is literally a labour of love.

"Before I owned this business, I didn't know diddly squat about making coffee," Menck says with a laugh. Fryar had worked in real estate and TV production, so neither of them had any professional experience running a cafe. But they had plenty to bring to the (communal) table: the menu reflects Fryar's love of cooking and Menck's background as a self-confessed "science geek" is advertised in the cafe's name and throughout its lab-like elements.

On one wall, you'll see a massive structure – made in his garage from scraps – that celebrates the caffeine molecule. You'll also spot families and young couples waiting for their orders while brandishing giant spoons that mark elements from the periodic table. Quinoa bircher is garnished with a syringe full of honey, while milk comes in beakers. You might spot antique scales from old pharmacies Menck once ran – an appropriate fit in this industrial-looking cafe (which used to have a chemical effect of another sort – the big VB sign that hangs outside clues you to the establishment's former boozy past).

He has also applied a scientific focus to the way he makes coffee (after all, "it's basically a chemical extraction"), and his precision when it comes to timing, ratios, setting up the grinders and so on can be measured across the cafe's many offerings using beans from Gabriel Coffee ("I like supporting local businesses," he says. "They're based in Chatswood, just around the corner.") Everything milk-based is made with the brand's Monte Carlo blend, while black coffees are produced with a rotation of single origins (currently, the Ichamama from Kenya) and the Sumatra Blue Roca on call for pour-over coffees can also be ordered as a cold brew that sparkles with bright, clear notes.

With its menu, The Alchemist Espresso offers its own twist on standard cafe dishes. Of course, you can order smashed avocado, but Fryar's version features balsamic-marinated tomatoes, a good dose of feta and pomegranate seeds, a photogenic dusting of crushed pepitas and a wedge of lemon studded with nigella seeds – as well as kale that's been evenly coated with lemon olive oil; the dressing softens the raw crunch of the maligned green to the point that it tastes like it's been lightly branched. Menck says this dish has converted "adamant kale haters" and you can understand why.

There's also a pulled-pork burger, made with meat that's been left to slow-cook in smoky barbecue sauce and apple cider vinegar overnight, and served with coleslaw, pickles and Dutch cheddar cheese on a crusty panini bread from The Bread and Butter Project that impressively soaks up every drop of this messy, serviette-ruining delight. The accompanying mini deep-fryer of crisps presents another good reason to order this.

For a much tidier sandwich experience, there's the poached chicken on multigrain sourdough, neatly sealed in with mayonnaise, red onion, shallots, beetroot relish and baby spinach. The DNA for this recipe comes from Fryar's mum – it's a party-winner that she often serves.

And the warmer weather is a good reason to ask for the burrata salad, served with a medley of fresh-cut tomatoes, rocket and white sourdough that's been rubbed with garlic cloves and drizzled with oil.

For a sweet fix, the cabinet includes miniature cakes (rose and lychee, fig and apple) and cookie jars that include a salted choc-chip number. But if you're feeling saintly, you can order the vegan green smoothie with banana chunks and coconut mylk (this, too, might change the mind of some kale haters) or the sparkling cold-pressed beetroot, apple and ginger juice.

Kids are not overlooked, with cheese toasties and junior versions of eggs on toast and milkshakes on offer. The menu's admission that they'd probably like to order fairy bread (made with classic white bread and none of that virtuous wholegrain stuff) will probably be welcome by children.

When Menck thinks back to the couple's gamble to put their home on the line to open this business, he laughs at the possibility that it was either an "amazing or stupid" idea. But if it turns out there's a science to running a good cafe, it wouldn't be such a wild theory to suggest that The Alchemist Espresso may have found the winning formula.

IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

More to see in Cammeray and surrounds:

Jugemu & Shimbashi

246 Military Road, Neutral Bay

You literally get two-in-one value at this Japanese restaurant – one half is dedicated to the teppanyaki grill, and you can sit around the hot plate and watch chefs bring okonomiyaki and other dishes to sizzling life; or there is the more sober dedication to soba, where you can lounge at sunken tables and enjoy the understated flavours of house-made buckwheat noodles.

Cammeray Golf Club

Park Avenue, Cremorne

It might be unassuming and hidden away, but this golf course claims to be the one that's closest to the bustle of the Sydney CBD. There's also a golf shop (of course), a function centre and kids can practise their swing by attending the junior golf academy.

My Tea House

Shops 4-5, 129-133 Military Road, Neutral Bay

Looking to fill your teapots with iron goddess, dragon well or needle king? This speciality store has all the Chinese brews you're looking for, whether it's a green tea variety or milky oolong. And if you start to feel overcaffeinated, don't worry, there are plenty of pretty cups, pots and tea wares for your shopping cart.

Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace

380 Military Road, Cremorne

This much-loved art deco cinema is home to more than just the current batch of films – it's also known for its special event programs, with filmmaker Q&As, sing-a-long sessions, anniversary showings, and its interactive screenings of the world's worst film (The Room), which have been happening on the first Friday of the month for four years running.

Yasaka Ramen

161 Military Road, Neutral Bay

The North Sydney outlet of this much-loved ramen house has a menu designed to please everyone – from spare rib ramen to a vegetarian option topped with fried dumplings. And while the restaurant's mantra may be "no ramen, no life", there are other things to tempt you, too – from curry rice dishes to roasted green tea ice cream.