Penny Fours

“Violet Crumble should just stop,” I mutter through an earth-shattering mouthful of Leatherwood Honeycomb ($3). I’ve just visited Penelope Ransley’s Norton Street bakery and I’m hooked. So is her Mum, who when pressed for her favourite declares: “Whatever I have in my hand! Okay, peanut butter jelly cups but I’m turning to the salted caramel.” Fickle I can understand; the squares of caramel dipped in Valrhona chocolate topped with sea salt are amazing, but then so is ‘most everything! Apparently the secret to the slate-like interior of the honeycomb is a labour-intensive cooling process that sees it slid from cool spot to cool spot on a surface of stainless steel. Penelope’s impressive resume includes fine dining big hitters like Est., Tetsuya’s and Sepia, as well as Iggy’s, known for excellent bread. Now it’s pillowy Citrus Marshmallows ($2/each) rolled in toasted coconut and ephemerally light Sour Cream and Mascarpone Brioche Buns ($4.50/each) sprinkled with brown sugar. In the savoury department, things are just as good. High quality ingredients make a Ham and Cheese Croissant ($6.50) a near religious experience – just like the honeycomb, it’s the way it shatters that matters. So grab a takeaway coffee and pull up a pew in the homey yellow-tiled store, you’ll be glad I sent you…

Penny Fours
141 Norton Street, Leichhardt
Ph: (02) 9572 8550 facebook.com/PennyFours
Bakery $