Apparently Penny University refers to old coffee houses in London where people paid a penny for coffee. Anything London-related piques my interest these days, although London coffee is notoriously quite average (with the exception of a reputed few run by Australians). Local new cafes are always welcome, and on their second day of opening it certainly caught my attention as I walked past aimlessly.
I've been a few times and tried several things. It's great for the daytime (odd-hour employed) people who want somewhere to sit, somewhere to eat, relaxing atmosphere and to wifi their laptops.
It isn't cheap, and I'm not especially fond of Sunday, public holiday and credit card surcharges. But what can you do.
I've had coffee here once (I'm not a coffee drinker) and it was exceptionally bitter. If you ask me that usually means it's burnt, but I'm certainly not an expert. Maybe it's just a unique type of bean. The soy chai latte is average standard too (for outside Melbourne) - creamy, sweet and quite a lot of cinnamon. On the other hand, the mixed berry smoothie is great - sour yoghurt, lots of blended berries and topped with pistachios. I definitely approve.
- Cazuela (soft poached eggs, spicy harissa baked beans, greens, pistachios, dukkah, labneh) - simple dish, very tomato flavoured, nice;
- Magic Mushroom (pan tossed salad of truffled mushrooms, olive oil poached potato, baby chard, asparagus, chevre with leek & parmesan pancake) - I think too much white truffle oil is lathered across which overpowers the flavours;
- Mr Penny (breakfast burger of fluffy cheddar scrambles, streaky pialligo smoked bacon, spinach, penny's tomato salsa) - burger version of a big breakfast;
- Croissant French Toast (with caramelised banana, cinnamon, mascarpone & maple syrup) - enormous serve of heavily sweet and buttery components. It's very nice but trying to finish it is an exercise in overindulgence;
- Eggs Your Way (free-range poached) with side of Breakfast Pudding (black sticky rice, coconut, grilled mango, nut brittle) - given the supposed London connection, I thought I'd ask if they did black pudding. The waitress asked the chef who said yes, and came back with this. Miscommunication. Lesson learnt. Nonetheless the pudding is nice, not much coconut milk/flavour as you'd expect after having black sticky rice in Asian desserts. I suppose it's meant to be the healthy option.
The atmosphere is nice, the food is good (without being great) and it's somewhere local in Kingston to meet up and hangout.
Next time I would order things I haven't eaten there yet - Avo Dish or Miso-Cured Snapper for breakfast or Twice-Cooked Beef Rib for lunch. Washed down with a berry smoothie.
