Penny University

Wanting to avoid my hotels breakfast I hit up Unilocal to find a nearby coffee spot that served a decent breakfast; and the reviews led me to Penny University a short 7 min walk away.
Arriving just after opening I was glad to have got there early as the regulars queued up fast for their morning coffees; therefore I had a prime spot to watch the coming and goings whilst enjoying my coffee.
The eggs and salmon was big & beautiful, I typically avoid white bread, but it was simple and honest in this dish, a dollop of butter left to melt through the middle.
The staff were friendly and engaging and never once ignored the tourist in favour of the locals; though it wa snide to hear them ask about their weekend plans etc.

Simply delicious! If I were to choose two words to describe this Union Street café located in the eclectic East End precinct between Grenfell Street and Rundle Street just one block east of Frome. Today I took away a turkey sandwich with spinach, and cucumber, and tomato enhanced by a cranberry jam; all of the highest quality and freshness. Brilliant! The baguette was skillfully baked and was simultaneously light and crispy AND the sandwich is absolutely shareable OR could be a second meal making this a great value for the money. In addition I selected the large salad with a selection of three salad types (1) quinoa with pumpkin and pumpkin seed, the second was an apple, celery, bok choy, with a light lemon sesame seed dressing, and the last was a mixed salad of peas, green beans, and walnuts. I sampled each as I plan for it to be shared with my husband and with use as an accompaniment to this evening’s dinner. I simply cannot choose a favorite as each was simply delightful!
For dessert the snickers cannoli was decadent as was the lemon, carrot polenta cake.
This is a MUST DO destination. I cannot vouch for the coffee but everything else was superb.

Foti has got the formula right here at Penny University!
Don’t really need an excuse to b here for breakfast, brunch, coffee or lunch, with such an array of fresh food & great coffee, drop in anytime n you will be greeted with a friendly smiley face.
Over the one n half hours I was there, non stop stream of customers ranging from students, suited men, well groomed ladies, cyclist, ambos etc etc
The café may be small in space but definitely didn’t feel the cramp whilst dining here on the bench. Not so sure if that suits anyone who doesn’t like the cosiness and sharing the bench, it’s great for solo diner.
The coffee is great, obviously one to start n one to linger on with after the delicious meal.
This visit I had the corn fritters with crispy bacon, avocado n dill mayo. The stack of double layer of everything was just right. Definitely fresh corn being used n perfect avocado. Every mouthful of the combination went well together. Could do with more mayo but it was right for me. Am sure you will not be denied if u asked for more mayo.
The diner next to me requested n got more butter even though her toast were buttered.
The staff were friendly n made u feel welcomed. Well done!

Penny University is one of my favourite spots in/​off Rundle Street for breakfast, lunch and coffee. Judging by the amount of customers the baristas know on a first-​name basis, others must feel the same!
The hotspot serves two main purposes. There is bar/​communal bench seating for around a dozen people who want to take their time, but there is also a quick takeaway window for suits in a hurry. I’ve only ever eaten from Penny University whilst seated inside as I love the atmosphere. The staff are friendly and welcoming, the music is always a good suprise (last time it was late 90s/​early 00s RnB, the previous time it was old rock anthems) and they’ve nailed the relaxed Rundle Street vibe.
Over the multitude of times I’ve been to Penny’s, I’ve had the luxury of trying many different things. Recently, fakès has been made a winter addition to the everchanging menu. For those who haven’t had this delicacy before, fakès is a Greek soup consisting mostly of lentils. It’s surprising filling and very delicious! Previously, I’ve also eaten the baked eggs, tomato sugo and pork sausage (highly, highly recommend), French toast with rhubarb and ricotta and a variety of the salads from the front takeaway window. Of the drinks offered, their coffee is faaaantastic. I also recommend their dirty chai/​chai buzz (chai latte with a shot of espresso) and the iced coffees are to die for!
There are a lot of small lunchy brunchy places popping up around Rundle Street and Ebenezer Place, but Penny’s is my favourite. The service is fantastic, the food is so good (both in taste and value for money) and the staff always look happy. I like lingering here for as long as I can.

For a place called «penny university» — uni students definitely aren’t getting much for their penny’s here… Baddum Tiss.
I’ve been persuaded (by myself) to visit this admittedly awesome looking place down Union st across the road from Burger Theory. This «cool» place with its «cool» sign, full of «cool» people, eating out of «cool» metal bowls, sitting and resting their stuff on «cool» plastic milk crates and reading their «cool» retro black and white lettered menu; it was safe to say I felt very out of place in my Tshirt and thongs.
At lunchtime it’s almost impossible to get a spot in their tiny restaurant presumably because it’s full of «cool» people, I’m not saying it’s penny university’s fault that their store is small but I definitely felt too underdressed to enter… I went to the takeaway window.
This window is filled with delicious looking food, focaccia’s, salads, cold pasta, sweet pastries and a particularly good looking turkey wrap. there’s usually a reason why the prices aren’t shown in these types of places — it’s because they’re expensive. I paid a ridiculously exorbitant 9 dollars for some soft bread, sliced turkey, tomato, lettuce and cranberry sauce, I’ll admit it was tasty but for something I ate before I got back to City East Campus on North tce and could easily make on my own — I thought it was a little far fetched (alas my posterity got the better of me and I did pay the price). Now I understand rent or lease bills can be expensive in the middle of the city — but when you’re using crates for furniture for gods sake give me some change from my tenner.
My disappointment hit its triumphant peak with the attitude of the lady that served me. While the people around me received «darling» and «sweetheart» from the man working next to this woman — I most certainly did not. As I’ve said multiple times already this is a very «cool» joint however the woman that served me was much more than cool — she was icy. Standard «hello’s and thank you’s» really aren’t enough I received all the warmth and welcoming that a new girlfriend gives to a boyfriends ‘ugly jumper’ or ‘stripy jeans’ — «I’ll deal with with it while I have to, but I would rather never see it again».
It’s a shame really, I would love to try some of those delicious looking salads or be served by that lovely sounding man. Unfortunately I won’t be returning.
Penny university will have to work hard to avoid becoming another flavour of the month for the hipsters.

What a brilliant little place, I wish there was a café/​breakfast/​lunch place with this style in Boston/​Cambridge. We do have a number, including some great ones, but Penny University has really nailed the whole package. Yes it is small, but is has charm, class and style. The food, from my one visit so far (nott my last), is innovative and delicious. The gourmet breakfast roll was not the usual breakfast sandwich, and took creativity (and some courage) to pull off, but the result is clearly what they were going for; a rather unique (fried egg, bacon, rucola, but chili jam? it works!) and absolutely delicious breakfast sandwich. To top it off, the soft-​fried egg was perfectly soft-​fried. I almost ordered a second. As for the coffee, I did order a second double espresso macchiato. These guys know coffee. OK, so Australians are justifiably proud of their coffee culture, and there are a number of great cafés around, but whether in Italy, Spain, San Francisco, Seattle or Melbourne (or, it turns out, Adelaide), there are great cafés, and there are great cafés; you can taste the difference. I admit, I’m biased, I enjoyed Penny University, and will be back. If you do eat in, it is a wonderful place to take a break over breakfast, a coffee, or lunch. Great atmosphere, super friendly staff (and owner), great taste in music, and great style. I wish them a lot of success, they are doing everything right and it shows!
Christian

Plan B, Penny University here we come! With walking in to find the place super small but still managing to steal two seats, yay!
After browsing at the menu for a good 10 minutes, still undecided walking up to the counter and grabbing the ‘today’s special’, scrambled eggs with feta on thick toast. Now, I’m more of a ‘poached eggs’ person but I thought you know what different day, different meal?
This meal didn’t take long at all to prepare with what a plus for a hungry customer. That eggs and the feta worked well together, was a filling meal as well.
Will defiantly need to explore more of Penny University, as there window sandwiches and salad look delicious and freshly made.

Where to begin… Penny University is a beautifully warm and cosy haven during the bleak winter months. The other reviewers are right — it’s absolutely tiny inside with only enough seats for about 16 people! This only adds to its charm though, and makes it the perfect spot to quietly tuck yourself away with a friend.
I popped in for breakfast this morning. The menu isn’t huge, but you’ll be struggling to make a decision with the yummy things on offer. We selected the French Toast and Banana Bread and weren’t disappointed. Both servings were generous, with extra food left on my plate. The banana bead was moist and dense, accompanied with a rhubarb compote and ricotta — yum! The French Toast was served with the same rhubarb compote as well as maple syrup.
Coffees were great — absolutely no complaints. Service was quick and efficient. A fantastic addition to the East End!

I can’t say a bad thing about Penny University. I’ve dined in and taken away their salads a few times and struggle to find better value for money or more delicious lunch in the city. You can try as many of the different salads as the staff can cram into a bowl or container (which is PLENTLY!). My personal favourites are quinoa and the pear and rocket ones. The Portuguese custard tart is also a lovely post lunch treat. I can’t wait to visit for breakfast and I hear their coffee is spectacular. There isn’t a lot of seats inside but you don’t even have to step foot inside as all the food is displayed by the footpath, you can’t walk past without having a sneaky look.

Its soooooo teeny tiny… and cute as a button!
Don’t plan on coming with a gang — unless no one cares to sit and standing is your dream. Theres limited space inside — so take a date there instead — because dates just love being snuggly and occupying of each others space (supposedly).
Before you begin — open your eyes. The food is just spectacular to look at. Then, when you’ve narrowed down your salivating choices — its scrumptious in your tummy, too! They have wraps and salads and food with names I’ve never heard of and other food that I never thought would even get paired together. I feel like with a name like Penny University, a penny-​farthing bicycle might appear rounding the corner with some pointy-​stached, top hat, vest breasted chap riding hands-​free while peering through a vast of piled books would come trundling along. I looked. I even checked. Alas, he was late, or caught in traffic elsewhere.
While waiting for my pals to stop drooling and start selecting, I got to admire an artist lovingly splashing colour onto the wall just on the side of the shop, up on a tall whatchyoumightcallit — - scaffolding — -. Another amazing piece to come back and photograph when he’s done. Had he not been so high up and me being so hungry, I would’ve questioned who he was and shaken his paint engrained hand.
Not a word was said over lunch this day. That a good sign of great food or not? The lack of 1 star is truly for the teeny tiny space they occupy. Quaint, but just not big enough at the same time. But that does add some cool charm to it! Imagine if they could expand out into the car park infront of their shop — one of those car-​park sized thing with the tables and chairs. Yeah. That would be amazing. With a palm tree for atmosphere. That has little lantern lights in it… and the sounds of the jungle. Yeah…
So amazing.

This place has ‘hipster’ and ‘Melbourne’ written all over it. When my friend told me about a new «brunch, coffee spot» in the East End I was kind of expecting it would look like this. But I did not expect it look so cute! The name itself is so cute. I love it how they have cushioned bench seats at the front just under the open main window.
It’s really small inside and you’ll find it hard to find seats as there’s limited seating arrangements and you would have to time yourself or just be purely lucky in order to beat the breakfast/​lunch crowd. There’s a wooden communal table inside as well as bench which looks out onto the open window to Burger Theory across the road.
With the communal table, the industrial feel of the place and the open kitchen it looks almost identical to Silo by Joost in Melbourne. I would say it’s pretty much identical in concept. There’s a breakfast menu which they serve until 12pm that includes French toast, poached eggs and salmon on toast, etc. and they also have ready made to go wraps, cold pasta salads, muesli and yogurt, and rolls.
I had the tandoori chicken roll with mango chutney, cucumber, yogurt sauce and coriander. That tandoori chicken though! The flavours! Everything worked well together and I was left quite satisfied. At $ 9 it was not the most filling roll but it left me just full.
Can’t wait to try their other menu items and their coffees, really worth a trip.

The name, a bench seat out front in the sun littered in fedora wearing females and clean tiled white interior with industrial wooden benches and bench seats screams «hipster» and blends so perfectly into the East End mix. And the inner wannabe hipster loves this place.
These guys won me over as soon as I saw the cabinet stocked full to the brim of beetroot, greek, lentil, cous cous salads and chunky wraps and rolls.
Then I found out they served all day breakfasts and just about wet myself.
I have come with good intentions of trying everything on the breakfast menu, but I am not a sweet breakfast person and normally I try to cram as much of my 2 and 5 into this one meal. Consequently, the smallish brekkie menu of french toast, muesli and a couple of egg dishes with only 1 side of something just doesn’t do it for me.
Luckily, both times I have dined here the toasted rye roll with egg, pesto, chilli and spinach has caught my eye in the cabinet and left me satisfied for the rest of the day. Combine that with a smooth large coffee that isn’t too strong and I’m in hipster haven.
This intimate little café is a great place for quick meetings, catching up with 1 or 2 friends or sitting up at their window bench and knocking out some emails thanks to Adelaide’s free wi-​fi.

Perfect for the East End — a beautiful café with great décor and fantastic food. The breakfast menu, salads/​wraps are by far the best in the area. Good job guys!