Coffee to cocktails

“He’s got the liquor licence and he’s told us he plans to open it up only in the evening at first, but then might do other hours later,” said Keno Hernandez, whose father Joaquin shifted his 1972 shop to the current premises on Kings Cross Road in 1981. “But he plans to continue selling our coffee there, which is great.

“We’ll be moving the roaster to a warehouse somewhere and keep going with that part of the business.”

Spanton last year leased the 20sqm Piccolo Bar that was established in 1952 on nearby Roslyn Street and has since turned it into one of Sydney’s most popular tiny bars. Started as a café in 1952, and with only 12 seats indoors and eight outside, it now serves drinks and small plates and is a venue that rarely has an empty seat.

Café Hernandez is likely to go the same way. “I look forward to coming back and having a drink here then,” said Hernandez. “Yes, I feel a little bit sad after so long here – I grew up here with the café with our family living in the apartment above – but it also feels like a load off my shoulders. I feel very light.”

Sales agent John Skufris of Ray White Commercial South Sydney confirmed the exchange of contracts late on Friday (15 July) and said, “At this stage, we understand the purchaser and their plans remain confidential until settlement.”

But in what’s probably the worst kept secret in Sydney, the café’s customers are resigned to the end of an institution, but are glad that it will still remain open albeit serving a different range of beverages.

Spanton said when he bought the Piccolo Bar, he wanted to help in the mission to save Kings Cross after it was battered by the state government’s lockdown laws, before the pandemic.

He said he was a resident of the area for over a decade in the 1990s and 2000s and said, “I have seen so many historic places cease to exist or be transformed into something unrecognisable … I hope we will see the backstreets continue to come alive with even more quality small bars, cafes, restaurants and shops.”

Cafe Hernandez’s founder has been credited with contributing to Australia’s current coffee culture by importing coffee after being appalled by the quality of coffee when he migrated here from Spain in 1970.

The cafe stayed open 24 hours, and became a favourite of taxi drivers, police, hospitality workers and late-night revellers, and hosted a number of stars over the years, including Frank Sinatra, Gerard Depardieu, Marcia Hines and Hugh Jackman.

However, the pandemic hit the cafe hard, and it recently cut back its hours to nine to five. Hernandez junior, 55, and his sister Francis, 56, decided to put it on the market in order to move in a different direction with their own lives. It was passed in at auction for $1,875,000 but then went back onto the market as a private sale.

“Our regulars will be a bit upset when they hear about the sale, but we’ve been here many years now and it’s time for a change,” he said. “We wish Dave all the best with his business and I hope he has as much success with it as we’ve had with our café.