The Penny Drop in Box Hill shiny and bright like a new coin and right on the money
STEVEN Liu started with a pop-up “coffee spot” in Box Hill but the enterprising businessman has now turned that space into a pumping 100-seater cafe that’s right on the money.
Melbourne
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FORTUNE favours the brave. Like Steven Liu. Starting with a pop-up “coffee spot”
in Box Hill on the ground floor of the Australian Taxation Office, this enterprising businessman has now turned that space into a pumping 100-seater cafe named The Penny Drop.
And six weeks after opening, Liu looks to have hit paydirt. So to speak.
On a foggy Sunday morning, when we call by, The Penny Drop is filling fast with singles and families.
An hour later, there’s a queue out the door ... pram-pushing mums waiting patiently with teens in puffers and road workers in hi-vis vests.
But this eastern suburbs hotspot is not just serving a bang-up brekky.
The Penny Drop does lunch and dinner as well in a sleek, textured space where everything is curved and rounded.
“Roundness equals prosperity,’’ Liu tells me.
Of course. All those gleaming saucer-shaped lights above us are pennies from heaven.
FOOD
If Victoria has an egg shortage, The Penny Drop might have something to do with it.
I’ve never seen so many googies going out. Some fried and scrambled with black pudding and double smoked bacon, others poached with wild mushrooms and kale.
Head chef Daniel McDonald — who crafted the Asian-leaning menu here with Jason Shiong — is also marrying duck eggs with sweet and sour pork knuckle ($19.50) and son-in-law eggs with tea-smoked salmon ($21).
The ducks get my vote. How can anyone resist their sun-bright yolks? Especially when these eggs recline over toasted sourdough with purple witlof, crunchy Fuji apple and little blocks of glazed meat. There was concentrated piggy goodness in every bite.
Eggs and ham frontloaded a potato and garlic chive waffle ($18.50) and presented well, hollandaise drizzling under a swish of green wakame (edible seaweed). Pity our serve was lukewarm and the waffle far from crisp.
It’s not all about eggs, though. The Penny Drop’s “buttermilk hot cake stack’’ ($17.50, right) is an Instagram-worthy ensemble, raspberry compote splashing against palm sugar caramel and coconut foam — whipped to a frothing frenzy — flecked with black sesame and pistachio dukkah.
Then there’s the healthy stuff. A coconut and black chia pudding with caramelised banana ($14) was artfully composed with an eye for contrasting textures, while crunchy granola ($15) — densely packed with dried peach, cashews and kiwifruit — got extra oomph from yoghurt panna cotta and rhubarb curd ($15).
The Penny Drop takes pride in sourcing the freshest ingredients possible and this bowl just brimmed with goodness.
Breakfast kicks on here till three in the afternoon. So does lunch. So take Liu’s advice and invest in a “superfood” salad ($16.50, “for the healthy, wealthy and wise’’) or a soft shell crab burger with Kewpie tartare and chips ($19.50).
I’m going back for dinner where the smart money is on smoked mussels and creamed corn ($14), braised lamb flank with black caramel ($28), and a whole baby snapper with green nam jim ($38). No sign of eggs there.
DRINKS
Boy, the baristas are good. At The Penny Drop, they pound out orders for DC Roasters coffee at a furious rate while still finding time to spruik single origin “specials”.
Still, there’s more to the drinks list here than a well pulled espresso. Order tea and you get Numi organic loose leaves properly brewed in a pot, while apple and orange juice comes freshly squeezed in chunky frosted glasses.
Cleverly conceived cocktails are ready should you stay on for dinner. So, prop at the bar and let ’em mix you a Mint Condition ($14) or A Pretty Penny berry mojito ($14).
SERVICE
Vibrant. Sporting stripy tees and grey aprons, the staff here are always on the move ferrying dishes, clearing tables and taking orders.
X-FACTOR
Liu wanted his new place to go round in circles.
It does. Design firm We Are Huntly has curves and half moons happening all over The Penny Drop in deference to Asian symbology, but their ingenious fitout — washed with light through floor-to-ceiling windows — also melds timber, marble and copper trim.
The effect is both warming and welcoming with enough room between tables — communal and stand-alone — so you can carry on a conversation even when the joint is jumping.
BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
The Penny Drop will not cost you an arm or a leg. Breakfast dishes are nearly all under the $20 mark while the biggest investment you’ll make at dinner is a $39 coconut beef short rib. Share plates — dubbed “medium investments’’ — are especially good value.
VERDICT
Shiny and bright like a new coin, this is the all-day diner Box Hill has been waiting for. A brave move into hospitality that’s right on the money.
THE PENNY DROP
913 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill.
Ph: 9077 7455
FOOD
Australian-Asian
HOURS
Daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner
CHEF
Daniel McDonald
BOOKINGS
Yes
TABLE FOR TWO @7.30PM?
Yes
TIME BETWEEN ORDERING AND EATING
Eight minutes
PERFECT FOR
Big breakfasts, early dinners
DESTINATION DISH
Buttermilk hot cake stack
NOISE FACTOR
Convivial
ONLINE
REVIEW BY
Simon Plant
PICTURES
David Crosling
REVIEWS ARE UNANNOUNCED AND PAID FOR BY WEEKEND.
RESTAURANTS ARE NOT REVIEWED IN THE FIRST MONTH OF OPENING
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