Z will be in a fortnight

So I still haven’t done z yet. It’s the last one, but I have been sick or busy over the last couple of weeks.

I have still eaten a lot, just not a z thing yet.

In a fortnight z will be lunch at ze pickle. At least that is the plan so far.

This week I would like to say that I have eaten a lot of good food of late, and some okay stuff.

I want to talk about okay stuff today. I am not saying it is bad, I am saying it was good, but not great.

I had a pizza on the weekend that was okay. It was from a place down the road from my house and, while I would happily go and eat there again, I wouldn’t describe it as great. I think there may have been a few things attributing to this, one of which was how quiet the place was.

The handmade pizza base, the onion jam, the pork sausage and the salami were all good. Even together in a flat cheesy  wedge of food. The more I think about it the more I want it again, but it wasn’t great. It was good though. The place I think is one of the few places I have been to that would benefit from being extremely busy.

There is something about some places, where when it is quiet the energy goes out of the staff and the passion goes out of the food. Not completely, they’re professionals, but just enough that great food becomes good.

I would like to emphasize again, I don’t think this is a bad place, and there was something about the pizza that made me…

I just realised what it was. The pizza and the mozzarella bites I had on Saturday tasted like they had been prepared in advance for a rush that hadn’t hit just yet.

I have been to yum cha when it is quiet, and a few places when they are quiet , and the food has been the same. The we were prepared for a horde and we got a guy, who ate a lot but he is still a guy.

It didn’t taste like it had been prepared in the morning or anything dodgy like that, just early enough that they felt ok with warming it up and serving it.

Ok, next time I go I am going to try and go when it is busy and order the least popular thing. They’ll probably do great then.

I have friends who order things, from chains like McDonalds and Hungry Jacks, with just enough change to the thing on the board that it needs to be made fresh. Though I think a lot of places do that now anyway.

Okay, enough dwelling on that.

I also want to tell you about Sunday at Junk.

Three people, three dishes each equals a fairly decent feast at Junk, in Coorparoo.

Junk’s Scotch eggs, JFK, Gangnam Fries and Peking Duck spring rolls were all amongst the dishes devoured on Sunday.

I recommend Junk in Coorparoo as a place to go with your friends. I am not sure they have much in the way of vegetarian stuff though, or gluten free stuff, but for everyone else the food is good. Sticking with the theme, it was not great but good.

The scotch eggs were my favourite. It has been a long time since I have had scotch eggs.

For those that don’t know, scotch eggs are boiled eggs covered in sausage meat, then bread crumbs, and deep fried. What made these special was the dipping sauce. I could taste a little chili and possibly honey in it, maybe vinegar, but with the eggs it was great.

I know it’s away from the theme, but it was.

Back on theme the peking duck spring rolls, which seem to be popping up in a lot of places, were good. As was the chicken.

As far as a quick meal goes Junk in Coorparoo is pretty good.

I keep saying Junk in Coorparoo because I wasn’t too impressed with Junk in South Bank. It wasn’t bad, but there is a lot of competition for nice food in South Bank, and that particular Junk is not in the running in South Bank.

Sorry Junk in South Bank, but you need to lift your game.

Ok, I am off to make coffee. Eat well and come join me on Saturday the Third of February for lunch at Ze Pickle. I’m not booking, just be there at 12 and we’ll see what happens.