More work lunches

Tuesday (9/10): S and I tried The Walk Cafe for the first time. Its address is 97 Rokeby Road, but it’s actually located just off Rokeby, sort of down a lane – it probably has a name of its own, but I admit I didn’t really look out for it. The cafe was busy, but I was impressed with how quickly our order was taken and how soon the food arrived after that. I ordered the chicken burger and chips (AU$14.50). A nice big burger with a decent serving of chips. Although the sliced chicken breast was spread with avocado, I still found it a little on the dry side (regular readers will know I’m an anti-chicken-breast, pro-dark-meat girl – incidentally, I don’t like avocado either!). The chips were great though. Fresh and nicely salted.

S chose one of the daily specials, a gourmet vegetable bruschetta (AU$13.50). I thought my burger was big, but this was even more impressive. S liked the garlic bread – she said it had a nice garlic flavour without being overpowering. The bread had been spread with olive tapenade and then topped with roasted vegetables – sweet potato, tomato and capsicum, and cubes of fetta, all drizzled with a balsamic dressing. This was served with a sizable side salad.

Personally, I’m not into fetta or tapenade, but the garlic bread and other vegies looked pretty good to me – which is high praise, considering my carnivorous
tendencies. The Walk got a thumbs up from both of us.

Wednesday: Chad had been on holidays for the past few weeks – but she was back on Wednesday the 10th. I’m not one for getting soppy, but I’d really missed her while she was away. We went to MYO and had a good chinwag. Chad made herself a toasted wrap.

I of course made one of my usual exploded bread rolls with corn kernel satellites. My desk at work and my desk at home look just like that. Well, not exactly – the desks aren’t covered with bits of food (really, they’re not!) – they are more like explosions of paper and pens. See, I filled the roll with so much stuff I *broke* the bread.

Thursday: S, Chad and I ate at Toraya. This was Chad’s first time there – she’d been on holidays when Toraya opened. She ordered the agedashi tofu, which she demolished and enjoyed.

S had the teriyaki fish. She’s had it a few times… I guess she likes it! While Chad’s dish came with rice, salad and gherkins, S’ dish came with rice, salad and tempura shrimp.

I was thrilled that they had a special of karaage donburi – chicken karaage served on rice, with a bowl of miso soup. I didn’t care about the miso, but was very happy to have a bowl filled with rice and topped with eight (yes EIGHT!) plump crispy freshly fried pieces of chicken, drizzled with that delicious chilli mayonaise. So good. For a little while I just inhaled and chewed chicken. Bliss. It was difficult to pay attention to the conversation. I almost forgot about the stresses waiting for me back at the office. Almost.

Friday: Chad and I went to the Pavilion Markets and ordered from the Chinese stall. We each had a spring roll while waiting for our noodle dishes to be cooked.

Chad ordered char kway teow. I’m proud to say she discovered char kway teow through me (as did Jac, incidentally!) And now she’s a big fan of it (as is Jac!). :-D

I tried the mee goreng. OMG this was soooo good. The sauce was both distinctly sweet and savoury. It had a gorgeous flavour which reminded me of tomato ketchup or kicap manis or something along those lines. The noodles were just perfectly coated with the sauce, beautifully flavoursome without being all wet and sloppy. The chicken, fish cake and bursty prawns were all delicious. Another again-again! dish. Seriously tasty.