Monday: R and I had to go to a training session in East Perth. Afterwards, we stopped by a lunch bar and picked up food for the team. Chad had prawn rice paper rolls, which came with hoisin dipping sauce. As you can see, the rolls were very prawny! They were just $4 or $5 (I forget).

R and my boss each had a tuna plate (AU$5.20 or $6.20, once again I forget!), which consisted of tuna patties, salad, hard-boiled egg and cheese. The pineapple ring grabbed my interest, but I wasn’t at all keen on the beetroot.

I was originally going to get myself a chicken and salad plate (like the tuna plate, but with a quarter chicken), but after looking at the honey chicken and fried rice (AU$5.50 or $6.80, yeah yeah, I did keep the receipt but I think it’s sitting on my desk at work) I’d bought for SRM, decided to switch. It was so tasty.

Tuesday: lunch with Chad at Toraya. She had the medium chicken teriyaki bento (AU$12.00).

I tried what they call on the menu “chicken schnitzel” which I presume would be chicken katsu. I had the medium chicken schnitzel bento (AU$12.00). Both our meals came with miso soup, of course. My dish arrived like this – looks like some schnitzel was trying to make a break for it.

The prawns had a light batter and appeared to have been coated in chilli mayo, which gave them a bit of a bite. Yummy!

This was the crispiest katsu ever. The sort that makes loud crunchy noises when you bite it. It was served drizzled with barbecue sauce, and with a dollop of mayo on the side. So tasty, so satisfying. I would have a tough time deciding which I loved more, this or the karaage. I’ll continue my field research until I have found the answer. :) I know it looks like it’s all crunch and no chicken, but there was definitely chicken in there. I suppose if you were more into meaty than crunchy the karaage would be a better choice.

Wednesday: I was too busy to get lunch, but luckily one of my colleagues offered to do a Nippon Fare run. She got me a large teriyaki chicken. Look! They’ve gone back to the green pickles! I’m glad, as I much prefer these to the pink ones.

Thursday: Chad and I went to The Walk cafe (Shop 5, 97 Rokeby Rd – which is in a little laneway just off Rokeby actually) for lunch. Chad had heard about my recent lunch there with S and was keen to check it out for herself. Chad chose the roasted vegetable panini. She enjoyed this – I thought the roasted vegies looked lovely.

I chose the Penne Del Sud – penne pasta with chicken, sundried tomatoes and spring onion in a light cream sauce. This was absolutely delicious. The chicken was tender and well seasoned. As many of you will know, I’m a huge fan of sundried tomatoes. When Jac saw the photo of this dish that evening she said she thought it looked rather dry. While I agree a little more sauce would’ve been great, I didn’t find its sauciness (or apparent lack of) a problem while eating it – it was so delicious I didn’t notice! Jac likes her pastas to be absolutely saturated with sauce, just like her kebabs (extra garlic sauce) and salads (heavy dressing). You know what wou’d’ve made it just perfect, for me? Some mushrooms, or snow peas or some other veg. And more shaved parmesan. I gave it a 9 out of 10, and would order it again without hesitation. I loved it.

Remember what I recently said about having a lunching partner in crime? As we were finishing our dishes, Chad said, “Would you mind if we stopped by KFC on the way back? I really feel like hot chips.” I said, “Do they have to specifically be KFC chips? We can get some chips right here – I’d share them with you, if you like.” And with that, Chad ordered a plate of chips for us to share. Sprinkled with salt and dipped in tomato ketchup, they went down very well.

Friday: I felt like a wrap and Chad didn’t need to be talked into it. Here’s hers:

In my wrap I had chicken, mayo, swiss cheese, pineapple, cos lettuce and mushrooms. We made toasted them for a little longer this time, and they were lovely and golden brown, with just the right amount of crunch without being overly brittle. My wrap and a bottle of orange juice cost me AU$9.50. Definitely can eat these once a week for the next while.