The Penny Royal

Our rating: 8 / 10

Firstly, thanks must go to the Sunday Telegraph Magazine for writing a review of this café a couple of Sundays ago. It would have remained hidden from us, as unlike the address suggests, this café isn’t on Military Road at all. It is fact located in a little street behind Spit Junction. Look for the Mosman Council Chambers and you’ll soon find it tucked away in a little pedestrian lane filled with cafes, restaurants and boutiques.

We took a stroll up to The Penny Royal this morning. After securing an outside table, we then had a waiter come over with the menu. If you like your café to serve eggs and bacon in the morning then keep going, as The Penny Royal serves up an array of exotic treats and not your basic café items. The menu is limited but still doesn’t make the decision process easier. Amit chooses the Sourdough, ricotta, mushroom, pesto sandwich.

I go for the banana bread – lightly toasted. Ok, so this does sound a bit pedestrian as what cafe in Sydney doesn’t do Banana bread, but this one is a real meal in itself with a smattering of blueberries to add to the flavour.

Campos coffee is served which means no more trips across the bridge to Newtown to have your fix. Another good sign is this cafe attracts a lot of cyclists – I don’t know what it is but they always seem to find the best places serving coffee. Actually that’s a good tip when in a foreign city – look for the cyclists and see what café they gravitate to (though given my fitness levels let’s hope I find them at the end of their run).