The smart money is bravely placed on not following the crowd. Opportunity is often found where no man has gone before. Today I took a trip out to sleepy, suburban Box Hill (Melbourne) and had breakfast at Red Cup. This suburb is not familiar territory to me and as I drove along in the lashing rain looking for the street number I spotted a red Vespa in a service lane and decided 'that must be the spot' ... I pulled over and was proven right. The place was packed, the coffee good, and the owners obviously knew what they were doing having owned and operated espresso bars in the CBD for numerous years before packing it all in and heading to the burbs. Michael (pictured) and Kelly Olsen have set up their latest coffee machine in what was a local icon for more than 50 years, WAM, a washing machine & electrical repair shop. A simple, contemporary cafe menu based around excellent coffee makes a welcome contrast to the dumpling house domination of Whitehorse Rd and surrounds, and it has been more than enthusiastically embraced by the locals. Open 7am to 3pm, 7 days (actually the lights are on and the coffee is flowing from 6.30am for the tradies take away during the week), Michael and Kelly have achieved their vision for  a 'cosy local' and created a menu and space the same person can use for different reasons (coffee to go on a weekday morning, weekend breakfast with family and friends, pop in with the laptop for a snack and some social work time ... their strategy made good sense to me). It's definitely one out of the box in Box Hill.  Red Cup, 1124 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill, Melbourne (almost opposite local landmark, Our Lady of Sion school).