A Coffee Education Addiction

In a nutshell
Fudz: Penny University
Cuisine: Cafe culture that originates from England
Code: Weekend chic but you can still visit on weekdays except Mondays
Location: 402 East Coast Road Singapore 428997
Dial: +65 9008 9314
Interweb: http://www.pennyuni.com
Email: pennyuniversity@gmail.com
Damage: $13 - 19
Taste: B+
Ambience: B
Service: D

The story
Their coffee is decent and good. No strange aftertaste. A cup of coffee is a welcoming sight in the morning after a night of debauchery at Le Peranakan Hotel (located at the same block). However, the coffee at Chye Seng Huat is still better than theirs in my books. But then again, nobody is asking me to do a comparative essay...

Oh wait. Back track. Why did we need coffee?

A very good friend of mine, Xaviere, just turned 30. We spent the previous night drinking beers and BBQ-ing food - to be exact, we were drinking more than we were eating. Until the clock struck 1 am, we began to feel hungry. We started BBQ-ing again in the middle of the night and ate cheesy crabsticks and sausages until 3 am. We began to talk about life in general while lying three-on-a-bed. You can't possibly go straight to dreamland when you have your best buddies lying next to you in the dark. All inhibitions strip and girls just want to talk their hearts out.

We concluded the night/morning around 5 am.

Not a very smart move for a bunch of 30-year-olds. We are 30, not 13.

It was half past 10 when we finally willed ourselves to open our eyes. Candy woke up hungry. At least our appetites remain like 13-year-olds'. (Too bad that the metabolism doesn't.)

"There's Penny University downstairs..." someone remarked helpfully.

You cannot make reservations and please be always present when you've left your name on the waiting list. Free tip for you. And because it's a free tip, it's also a no-brainer. Good things in life don't come free. That's a second free tip, by the way.

With eye bags and overnight bags, we made our way down to the cafe and found it bustling with customers at 11 am. The world has been up and about way before we came to our senses.

It was a Sunday morning. Everyone has the same thoughts about getting some brunch on a weekend. They have a good business going.

7 oz of flat white

Some personal exposition here. You've been forewarned.

There are many, many cafes sprouting their roots in Singapore. There are many ways to differentiate themselves from one another. One of the best ways is to serve good coffee or tea. The coffee beans have to be well-chosen and you need experienced baristas to make cuppas after cuppas after cuppas. The food comes next. It's great that PU's menu is not extensive. Makes choosing a lot easier for the indecisive. I'm never into 10 pages of menu if 80% of the food items are below par. A one-page menu is great if 80% of the small selection is great-tasting food. Decor and themes are also part of the campaign to make one's cafe stands out. In my opinion, there are too many 'dime-in-the-dozen' cafes that makes the cafe culture in Singapore rather stale. I hope new cafes grow with character and not with cookie-cutters. Last but not least, service. I don't care how 'cool' or 'popular' your artisanal cafe is, but if you don't have staff who serves with smiles and genuine good cheer, all that well-brewed coffee will still leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Not the good kind of bitter from a coffee, is what I meant.

To the waitress at Penny University: When I asked if that second cup of coffee was for my table number or for my friend's, it was not because I was overly anxious to get my caffeine fix despite what my dark eye circles said. The first cup of coffee was placed on our table by your colleague who did not properly specify to whom it was for. One order was a flat white and the other was a latte. It didn't help that we both ordered 7 oz and your cafe does not serve lattes in latte glasses. We don't work at PU like you do. We wouldn't know. Your sour reply that the cup you'd just placed on the table was for my friend, which was great. At least you know which order it was for. Except that your tone was not. Neither was your facial expression. You didn't have to sound as if I was asking for the obvious when you had placed the cup in front of her. FYI, your colleague placed my order in front of my friend too, thus my confusion.

I do not have high expectations from the service industry in Singapore, therefore, I'm seldom peeved by bad service. I just wave it off like how I wave off an unfortunate fly who flies into my face. It could be your bad day. It could be that you were tired from seven days of non-stop working. It could be that you were having the mother of all PMS. It could be that you had just met a customer who demanded for his/her coffee right here right now, seconds after ordering. Many could-bes. But you know what? It could be my bad day. I don't give a damn. Nobody gives a damn. Especially not from a paying customer. Seek comfort from a friend but don't ever show your bad face to a customer. Poor service is poor service.

Suffice to say, it was not my bad day so I did not bite anyone's head off that morning. It could be but it was not. It was in fact, a lovely day because it was Xaviere's birthday. Everyone was in a joyful mood that morning. All ready to eat breakfast like hungry ghostbusters.

Scone - only short of clotted cream

Cheese toasties with marmite and poached eggs

Cheese and marmite go well together. Then again, cheese is like everyone's favourite friend. It goes well with anything. It can go anywhere it pleases.

I'm about to show you more Eggs Ben pictures. Don't groan. I already tried to show less of them in this blog. There are more in my folder. I'm already holding them back.

Healthy-looking eggs

It's an art to pile one food on top of another. They are unapologetic about dumping the hollandaise sauce on top.

Oh the perfect roundness of it.

The sourdough bread was not something to crow about because it tasted like normal, thick slices of white bread to me but their poached eggs were great. Large and shapely.

The rocket leaves on the side were alright... simple and straightforward with a dash of balsamic vinegar.  I guess for the price of $12, this is decent Eggs Ben fare.

Coffee serves in 3, 5 and 7 ounces. They will ask you which size you want in these number terms. I'm used to small, medium, large. And thanks to Starbucks, tall, grande, venti, trenta. If I ever go back to Penny University, I will try to say the numbers. We have to learn something from this coffeehouse, yes?

And no, coffees are not available for a penny. It was a grand old time when a penny could give you good coffee in London, as what the board read at their door. Just like how our parents used to pay 10 cents for a bowl of wanton noodles in Singapore. Nevertheless, PU's prices are affordable and their items are value-for-money. You can easily get a hearty breakfast under $20.

Good as their coffee was, the earl grey tea that my friend ordered was weak. Sometimes, I rather they just hand us a teabag instead of a tea-press. The flavour of the earl grey tea leaves did not come through.

Note: Their Turkish eggs are popular and if you google, its reviews are stellar. It reminded me of the African-styled eggs Pearl had in Taiwan. Also reminded me of our local half-boiled eggs with kaya toasts. Same same but different. Eggcites.