Salvage Specialty Coffee

Overview

Three men sit in a Japanese sushi restaurant. Three men wonder about the vacant lot across the way. Three men, given their fine barista skills, salvage the space with specialty coffee. Welcome to Salvage Specialty Coffee in Artarmon.

This newbie sits tucked into the quiet side of Artarmon's train station and is the brainchild of Toby Cutler, Matt Goto, and Dan Yee, all formerly of the distinguished Air Coffee in Castle Hill. Consequently, with such experience to back them, there's no doubting these boys' ability to poor a good espresso.

In an effort to get things up and running pronto, they managed to salvage all available resources with impressive results thus far. The cafe is small, yet there has been an incredibly practical use of the space. What was once a bright yellow shop is now a simple but cosy espresso bar with a cool neon sign out the front that really spruces things up. Salvage's espresso counter is this place's focal point, then there's the window counter for those after a prime position for people-watching, and outside's all about 1960s Dutch school chairs set undercover to shelter the willing on a raining day.

Coffee is smooth and reasonably priced ($3 take away, $3.50 eat-in). The dark horse blend is roasted by Mecca, and a variety of specialty brewing methods is also on offer. A slow drip apparatus sits proudly on the back wall for those interested in a Kenya Gachatha AA (changes invariably), and for those keen to take some beans home and give it a nudge yourself, relevant items are available for purchase.

The menu is short and sweet, with bread and pastries from artisan bakery St Malo in Crows Nest. A sweet lemon tart ($5) or an almond croissant ($4) does go down well with a coffee, but for the absolute sweet tooth hit, sit down and sample the ricotta on sourdough ($9), with honeycomb on top that appears to be fresh from the hive.

A lengthier menu is on offer Saturdays, and you'd be hard pressed to say no to avocado, toasted pinenuts, lime, coriander, feta, and tomatoes on sourdough ($14) or the croque madame ($14) with a poached egg and bechamel sauce. The boys here have certainly managed to salvage something out of nothing, and lucky for them, we're already digging it.