As many of you may know, earlier this year I found what is now my favourite cafe, The Foreigner, but that’s not the only cafe the owner has. Semir Elamazi owns two other spots out in Burwood and Box Hill; Dosage can be found in the former suburb.

Co-owners, Reiji Honour and Semir Elamazi met through Gumtree; Elamazi hired Honour to manage his first cafe Hyde N Seek (which he no longer owns) in Ashwood for a number of years, before the pair decided to venture into business together with Dosage.

The name is a play on the chemistry theme of the cafe and the process of dosing coffee.

Hints of science and chemistry are dotted throughout the small space, which nods to the medical centre next door. The exposed copper pipe that doubles as a water tap; salt shakers labelled sodium chloride; tea served in beakers.

 

Many of the menu items are transfixed with syringes, adding to the chemistry theme; the team are big on recycling so the syringes are sterilised and reused daily.

The menu is bread heavy, with jaffles and bagels as key features.

“We’ve bought the whole tuck-shop idea out to Burwood. The kitchen is small so we had to be smart with how we did things and jaffles just seem to click into our ideas,” Honour told me.

The Yakitori bagel shows off Honour’s Japanese background. Marinated yakitori chicken and slaw sit on a bagel supplied by NY Bagels, topped with a syringe oozing spicy kewpie mayo.

Like most cafe owners, Elamazi has his own special recipe for the ever-popular smashed avo: mint, a dollop of beetroot hummus and a house-made chilli-infused olive oil syringe. It’s a popular choice.

The exposed concrete coffee bench is a standout design feature. It gives customers a behind-the-scenes view as their coffee is made. From weighing out the ground Industry Beans coffee, to frothing the milk; it’s both a spectacle and an education opportunity.

Aside from Industry Beans coffee, there are a variety of Healthy Humans juices, Konomi matcha, and Golden Grind turmeric lattes. Or perhaps try something more fitting to the chemistry theme, a nitrogen-charged iced tea from Tea Drop.

“Anyone around the Burwood area, if you want to get speciality coffee then come here,” wise words from Honour himself.

Elamazi is big on the concept of cafes that aren’t necessarily obvious, Dosage is hidden next to the SIA Medical Centre along Burwood Highway; click here for directions. If you can find the place, it’s well worth checking out!

 

Dosage social media handles:

Instagram

Facebook

Website

 

As always, if you enjoyed this post please give it a like and share. 

[Please note that the photos seen throughout this post, including the feature image, are the content of Dosage’s FB Page who have given me permission to use them for the purpose of this article]

[This post was originally written for Broadsheet Melbourne]