What a week: Monday I dined alone
It’s been a full-on week. There were two main events. First – I had a job interview on Monday. The second event took place on Tuesday, and was the main main event. I’ll tell you all about it in the next post. Don’t worry, everything is OK.
My job interview was for a higher level position in the team I currently work in. Yes, it would mean more money – but that’s not its only appeal, really! As I always do when I have a job interview, I left home much earlier so I could dine somewhere beforehand and be alone with my thoughts. As the interview was at 9AM, I decided I’d have breakfast at Cino to Go, which is right next to the Subiaco train station. I’ve bought takeaway fruit toast from there before but never actually ventured past the front counter.
I ordered a pot of English breakfast tea for one, and a grande panini. The grande panini is a toasted panini filled with bacon, scrambled eggs and a homestyle tomato sauce (i.e. with real pieces of tomato in it, definitely not ketchup!). It was served with a dish of tomato chutney, which reminded me of Jac’s mum’s homemade tomato chutney – it was really very tasty. I thought it was tomato sauce overkill though. There really was no need to have a dish of tomato as well as tomato in the panini.
After eating a few mouthfuls I wished they hadn’t included the tomato in the panini at all, as the bread was really soggy in the middle. As a child I hated fresh tomato in my sandwiches for school lunch because the by lunch time the bread would be unappetisingly soggy, and this reminded me of that yuck, soggy bread! feeling. The scrambled egg was nice, but I could barely taste the bacon (disappointing – why else would you eat bacon if not for the sheer pleasure of its baconiness?!). I wouldn’t jump to order this again. It filled my stomach at least, so I knew it wouldn’t be growling during the interview.
Thank goodness the tea was good. Good old tea. We’d be in trouble if a cafe didn’t get tea right. When the waiter cleared my plate she offered to top up my teapot with more hot water, which was nice. Most places would think of that as giving you free tea (that’s how I think of it!) and would prefer to have you order a second pot.
The interview went well enough. I came out of it feeling like I’d given it my best shot and I hadn’t blown it. I think if I don’t end up getting the position it will be because someone happened to be better, rather than because I killed my chances by completely stuffing up the interview. I feel good about it. Surprisingly, I’m not anxious or concerned at all, not even remotely impatient to hear the result. Jac and her mum hope I’ll hear before Christmas but I’m all *meh whatever*. And if they choose the best person for the job who doesn’t happen to be me, so be it. If it’s meant to be x 2 (that old cliche).
I had a busy morning of catching up when I got back to my desk after the interview. I ended up having lunch on my own that day. You know, it’s actually really good having this site because it motivates me to try new places and eat new dishes so I’ll have new photos to post for your enjoyment :). There’s not a lunch time I don’t think “Oh, but I’ve taken photos of that before, is there something else I could eat?” (But let’s face it, I can’t always resist the lure of karaage donburi!) I decided to wander over to Wagamama, since I haven’t eaten there for a while and there are lots of dishes I am yet to try there.
Wagamama’s paper placemats have the dessert menu on them, which is a really good idea. Sitting there reading it really put thoughts of banana katsu in my head (like this – banana katsu bla bla bla banana katsu bla bla bla BANANA KATSU). I have to tell you now though, I ran out of time and tummy to have dessert. But I really want to try the banana katsu! I guess I’ll have to make a special effort to do that one of these days. Maybe a treat after work before I go home. I have no problem with eating dessert before dinner. I just know if I eat dinner there I’ll probably run out of tummy again. :-D
After studying the menu I didn’t feel like noodles and none of the standard rice dishes really appealed to me, so I ordered plain steamed rice with a couple of side dishes. First to arrive was the wok tossed asian greens (AU$6.00). The vegetables were simply stir-fried with soy and ginger. I loved the chunks of ginger and ate them all, picking every morsel up painstakingly with my chopsticks. You know what I’ve realised? I usually use a spoon when I eat rice because I can get food to mouth much quicker, but I really enjoy using chopsticks! In fact, I’d like to buy some new chopsticks. The ones we have at home are very old and a little warped and not really straight anymore! Anyway, back to the vegies – there was bok choy, Chinese cabbage (love love LOVE), snowpeas and chunks of zucchini. The vegies were fresh and crisp, so fresh and crisp that my brain kept congratulating me on my relatively healthy choice of dish. I really enjoyed this dish apart from one thing however – the snowpeas weren’t strung. A minor annoyance. I ate everything, every bit of ginger and every snowpea string.
I just had to try Wagamama’s version of chicken karaage – tori kara age on the menu (AU$8.60). I thought this was rather over-priced, but then I’ve always thought Wagamama is on the expensive side – which is why it hasn’t become one of my regular lunching venues. When you think about the karaage donburi from Toraya being $9.00 with plenty of chicken, you can’t help but think Wagamama’s version isn’t really great value! It was OK, but there wasn’t really a crispy batter on the chicken, and the pieces were a little small for my liking -they were not as juicy and succulent as I know karaage chicken can be at its best.
The rice was also expensive (AU$3.20! For plain old steamed rice!), but overall, I enjoyed my lunch. With my bottle of Appletiser the whole meal was just over $21.00. I suppose if the snowpeas had been strung and the rice had been a little cheaper and the chicken had been more succulent and more satisfyingly *fried chickeny*, my brain wouldn’t have noticed the price of the meal quite so much (in between thoughts of banana katsu banana katsu – what a shame tummy said “no way!”). But it was a pleasant lunch, despite the negative points I’ve made. I’d still eat again at Wagamama, but it’s unlikely to become one of my lunching haunts.
