penny university coffee roasters

the perfect place to celebrate my last week ever being 20, and the half way mile stone in my degree. an awesome uniquemenuto satisfy an unruly semester long hunger for something that wasn't pasta.

what a joke! they need to take the roasters part out of their name and stick to being a cafe. coffee was tasteless and weak with no complexity to it. milk was over stretched and was scolding hot. as for breakfast themenuis a rip off for what you get and lacks imagination. there are far better places to go around kingston and manuka but this place is capitalizing on the hipster scene which is a joke in itself. don't go!

the banana french toast was the amazing. it was caramelised bananas in between croissants. it was definitely a sugar high but so good. we also ordered the savoury pancake with crab and prawns. this had a mango salsa which give it a sweet flavour. the vegetarian poke bowl and the eggs too were good.

overall we enjoyed the food. the only issue was the service a bit slow given it was a busy sunday and we were a big group. cannot wait to try their newmenusoon.

unbeatable brunch spot with perfect coffee, stunningmenuand very friendly wait staff. green eggs and ham with house made relish was to die for! thank you!

i'm a tough audience and i admit this. i was blown away by this spot. brekkie was the pretty average poached eggs with white beans on the side but it was delicious. the eggs are free range given the colour of the yolk but the beans left me wanting for more. simmered in tomato, onions and strips of red capsicum they were incredibly tasty. that combo is not always easy to bring to taste as it can (and in my experience has) be watery and sour! i could've eaten a bowl of that on my own. seasoned perfectly. the decor is hip and trendy. i was enthralled as i watched the beautiful men and women entering to eat. themenuwas creative and 'but for' my air flight back i would've returned for lunch. coffee was beautiful. i could taste it so it had that certain punch required. my only negative was themenuwhich was written in teeny tiny font. if you're over 40, have vision problems or just arrive in a de-caffeinated state you'll find it hard.

yum! i hope my next inter state meeting is scheduled for canberra again soon ...

find me better coffee and a better breakfast in canberra; i bet you can't!

penny university wins it by a margin when it comes to great coffee and even better food. located amongst several cafés in kingston, penny university easily grabs attention due to its sheer popularity. i have never driven by/ walked past this place and not seen a long queue of people waiting to be seated.

i remember going there first time with a group of 23 people and remember loving everything about this place! almost everything on themenuwas on our table and not one person was disappointed with their food.

i am a huge fan and a regular customer of this cafe and would recommend trying out the various dishes on the menu.

the order
- 2 coffees, salmon burger, eggs and toast

the good
- great coffee!
- the chips that came with the burger were good
- the slaw on the burger was spot on too

the bad
- the confit salmon was very fishy and had a funky smell
- the avocado on the burger was off - that horrible sour taste that only brown avo can give.
- there were a bunch of other pickle elements on the burger which just didn't work - like the pickle ginger (yes the same one you put on your sushi...). i understand what they're going for with the jap theme, but it doesn't work.
- the mushroom side with the eggs were bland and boring, with hardly any taste of "truffle"

the ugly
- the service! there were many waiters walking around but none bar one was taking orders. as she was the only one, it took a long time to get served

the opportunity
- turn the salmon burger into a home made crumbed salmon cake burger, keep the slaw, but turn the pickle element into a creamy tartar, and get rid of the avo spread (and keep the chips of course). in the end it's a just a burger - keep it simple.
- instead of steamed mushrooms, try frying them in truffle butter with crispy tips tossed in the end through a fresh herb.

the rec
- i'd recommend your chefs or who ever is in charge of designing themenuseek some inspiration from some really great breakfast spots like the cupping room, pialligo estate and greenhouse coffee.

my wife and i have had brunch at penny's on numerous occasions, there's no need to book but it can get very busy. they manage to fit a lot of people in their narrow cafe, maybe to many people... you will get quite familiar with the person sitting next to you when your butt is on their table whilst you struggle to get in and out. that's where the negativity stops and the glory starts. the coffee and the food are incredible, there's always something different on themenuthat you wouldn't have tried and it's always cooked to perfection. the staff are friendly and very quick to take your order and the food comes out relatively quickly. if you're looking for different food and a good coffee, this may well be your place.

dropped in here when we found me and mrs jones closed for renovations.  very busy on an early sunday morning on the way to the snow.  excellent service and the food was fabulous for adults particularly the avo dish with quinoa.  not much on themenufor children, however they did accommodate with with some sour dough toast.  coffee was excellent and overall it was a great buzzy enviroment.

a delightful place for breakfast! i loved the "avo dish" and all the othermenuitems sounded delicious. the staff were very friendly and offered us a place under the heater in the courtyard when inside was too noisy. i loved the sound of all the interesting drinks too and will be back to try them out.

penny university  is possibly the cutest venue in canberra. sure, it's a bit hipster, with the mismatched furniture and retro decor. check out the adorable animal decals on the wall!  it's a busy saturday morning and all the inside seats are taken; we manage to get a seat inside the enclosed courtyard area which was great as it was a chilly canberra morning and a tad too cold to brave the elements outdoors.  penny universitymenuthe breakfast at penny university is on offer until 3pm - perfect for those lazy weekend brunches. macchiato latte the coffee at penny university is strong and smooth. just what the doctor ordered when waking up at a crazy hour to watch the balloon spectacular.  beignets there's a range of tempting baked goodies on the counter that are hard to resist, including the delicious beignets.  miso snapper ii themenuis imaginative and different to your usual stock standard breakfast options.  my mum and i opt for the miso snapper to share. the baked miso cod is topped on a toasted bagel with a fried egg, asparagus and corn puree. i enjoyed this dish immensely - the flavoursome charred corn and the perfectly cooked asparagus. it's not often you see fish (besides smoked salmon) on a breakfast menu, so it's a nice change. caramel and macadamia beignets these were heavenly!! not too sweet, and filled with little pieces of macadamia; it would have been even more amazing if these were served warm, but that is just a minor detail.  overall, i loved penny university and could not fault our breakfast here. i'm jealous of all these fabulous cafes and cool restaurants that are popping up in canberra - mental note to visit more often! 

over the weekend i had brunch at penny university , i don’t know if brunch was particularly superb because of the fine company i was with or if the food was just amazing. may a little from column a and a little from column b. despite the heavy rain, everyone wanted to be at penny university . i was torn between twomenuitems (p.u. rarebit and mcpenny) as i always am, but the waitress said that the bagel was a newmenuitem and had been very popular. the breakfastmenuat penny university, what would you have chosen? p.u rarebit gratined guinnes, leek and cheddar bagel finished with sauteed spinach and a poached egg and chilli jam ($17.00) added ‘pialligo’ bacon ($4.00) . this won’t be for everyone, it is very cheesy, rich and heavy but that is the sort of breakfast that i like. i like how both halves of the bagel had melted cheese on it, which one its own was nice but add a little of the chilli jam and it transforms into a heavenly bite. the pialligo bacon is a thicker cut but not overly salty and compliments the rest of the dish. juice of the day  pineapple, cucumber and … i want to say mint . i asked the waitress to repeat the juice of the day combinations and i still can’t remember what the third ingredient was, i just couldn’t get over the fact that there was cucumber in this drink, but oh my, it was a perfect combination! a wonderful mix of cold juice with refreshing flavours. everyone really wanted their coffee asap, it was a little slow to come out but it arrived before the food.   avo dish avocado on toasted dark, charred corn and quinoa tabouleh, chevre, chilli oil and a 65/65 egg ($19.00) . my super fit yummy mummy friend ordered this, i didn’t ask her how it was, but she ate everything so i assumed it was nice. cronut  mapl

not a fan. i've been to penny university a few times now, twice for lunch and once for breaky and i wouldn't recommend it.
while themenuis interesting, there isn't enough to choose from, particularly the lunch menu.
each time i sat inside, as it's canberra and its cold outside, and i froze the entire time. the heating inside is terrible and doesn't compensate for the front door contantly being open. i wouldn't recommend going in winter, it completely ruins your experience.
also, they take bookings however when we called to make a booking for breakfast they said they didn't take bookings. when we asked why they take them for lunch and not breaky, we weren't given an answer. not only did i find that extremely rude but i also thought it was just plain pathetic, not to mention terrible customer service. either take bookings for anytime of the day or don't take any, they can't have it both ways it just doesn't work!

enjoyable. i'm not always a fan of the coffee here. i found it kind of cloying and dry on the tongue yesterday, although the previous time it was good. themenuis really interesting. the low-gi pudding is a warming delight. the beef ribs in a black bean sauce are way too sweet. the chips are crunchy and they don't scrimp on quantity or on the tasty side sauce. the green smoothie 'herbivore' is well-done but could be a bigger serve. service is ok given how busy they are.

sparatic service. my intro to this cool and funky looking place was a mid week takeaway coffee. the coffee was delish and the feel of the place so inviting. i had to come back (while still here, i am visiting from interstate).
i was a little bit disappointed :(
i came with a girlfriend on friday evening. they were busy but it did not seem unmanageable. nonetheless, the service was all over the shop. the waitress kept on forgetting to attend to us; i was not given a napkin with cutlery; after requesting themenufor dessert, the waitress only attended to us once we reminded her that we were still interested in ordering.....and i can go on.
food was good (photos added) but the fact that service seemed and was disorganised detracted from a pleasant dining experience. i would not go back in a hurry for dinner.