Redcup Cafe

A FEW years back, 'Michael and Kelly 'Olsen moved from Lorne to Box Hill. "We knew it was a desert out here," says Michael Olsen, who would drive to Carlton for coffee. Then, one sunny morning while cycling on Whitehorse Road, he saw light streaming into a corner shop and it struck him: that place should be a cafe.

The next day, he fronted up to WAM Appliance Maintenance and suggested leasing part of their digs to install a cafe. The coffee-drinking owners were keen and are now rapt to have coffee delivered to their workshop.

It took two years to strip the place, install new pipes and hack off the Dynabolted plaster. "A door to nowhere turned up," Olsen says. It opens on to a brick wall and has been left intact.

A year down the track, he is describing Redcup's busiest Sunday on record when I realise, I was there. Anyone who has ever worked in hospitality knows that type of day. It's when the milk is late or staff call in sick and it's the day you get slammed.

For Redcup, it went like this: part of the bread order failed to arrive, the joint was packed from the tick of 7am to the tock of 3pm and Kelly, who runs the front-of-house, and their daughter were away, along with two other staff members.

Was it a madhouse? Nup, nope, no way. Sure, there was a certain frisson; the staff seemed to be running on adrenalin, slabs of Turkish replaced dark rye and at some tables, dishes arrived early leaving fellow diners waiting. But the welcoming, buzzy vibe was unshakeable.

Olsen was on the coffee machine — they're not coffee geeks, he is quick to point out — serving up gutsy Genovese brews with a friendly word for all.

Families were quickly settled and smart red highchairs promptly produced if needed; it's the sort of place where smileys are stamped on kids' hands.

The triple-pancake stack was a rich kick-off to the day, the thick, slightly stodgy, pancakes in a pool of super-sweet strawberry sauce with a huge dollop of cream.

For the signature mojo rojo, half an avocado and a single soft-poached egg were slathered in a smoky capsicum sauce with a hint of chilli on toast. It was pretty good.

I wasn't a big fan of the steak sandwich though. The scotch fillet was a bit ropey, the fat untrimmed and it was mighty rare. The potato-and-thyme bread was too weak to hold the hefty fillings so it disintegrated a little. It was lifted by the chunky pumpkin chutney — Olsen's mum's recipe — just the right side of sweet.

Redcup has been warmly welcomed by the community and rightly so. It's a beaut neighbourhood haunt and Olsen, far from being horrified that a reviewer had been in, was reflective about how the system could be polished. He would make a good boss, I reckon.

The Olsens are planning to open another cafe in Blackburn North in the next three months-ish, so stay tuned.

nrousseau@theage.com.au