When staff at Dark Horse Espresso fired up the coffee machine and quietly started serving coffee yesterday, the new Lismore cafe lived up to its idiomatic name.

Dark Horse Espresso owner Brendon Thurgate said he wanted a ‘soft opening’ for his new stylish, Molesworth Street cafe.

“But we were still annihilated,” he laughed. “We had loads of people coming in on our first day.”

Brendon is not new to the cafe business. He was the operations manager for popular cafe Flock for five years – right up to when the February flood hit.

He said he wanted to open his own cafe because Lismore needs it – and he knows how to do it well.

“I wanted to give the community a place to come to – people really need it,” he said.

“So, when I saw the shop was available and looked through the window and saw the magnificent industrial brick wall, I jumped in.

“I contacted the real estate agent and asked them to keep the wall like that.

“We get a lot of comments about how beautiful it is.”

Why Dark Horse Espresso?

Brendon said the shop name was inspired by he and his partner’s love of horses and horse riding – as well as the idiom’s meaning to come from behind and surprise everyone by winning.

Brendon said the coffee he serves in the shop is from Single O – and he personally chose it because it’s awesome.

The new coffee shop will be open seven days a week from 7am until 2pm – including this weekend. It's located close to the Woodlark Street end of Molesworth Street,

“Customers can sit in and dine, but we are serving hot drinks and food in takeaway cups right now, because we have plumbing issues and are trying to minimise the washing up by hand,” Brendon said.

“We also have ‘cabinet’ food for sale to begin – pre-made sandwiches and wraps, as well as sweets and pastries.”

Brendon is still looking for people to join the staffing team at the cafe, so if you are interested in working there, visit the Dark Horse Espresso Facebook site for contact details https://www.facebook.com/darkhorseespresso2480.