Chad decided on a ham and salad roll, with the bread lightly toasted.

I was somewhat tempted by the burgers and chunky looking chips being taken to other tables as we pondered over the menu, but I felt like having pasta – so I chose the Fettucine Vero, with chicken, mushroom and spinach, in a creamy tomato sauce. It was served piping hot and was absolutely delicious. I loved the generous amount of shaved parmesan on top, and the spinach was lovely – fresh leaves and stalks wilted by the heat of the pasta and sauce. My only complaint was that it took a very VERY long time to arrive – Chad had drunk her flat white and eaten half her lunch before the steaming plate of pasta made its appearance at our table. Next time I think I’d like to try one of their burgers – though we’ll definitely have to be prepared to take an hour for lunch. You know, some crusty bread – or even better, garlic bread – would’ve been perfect for mopping up that tasty creamy sauce.

Wednesday.When Chad and I left the office to grab lunch, we were still undecided on what we felt like eating. Even though it was pouring with rain, we both felt like we really needed to just get away from the office for a while. We offered to pick up Japanese for a couple of our workmates on our way back from wherever we ended up – no one else felt like going out in the rain! As we walked along, the smell of KFC was strong in the air, and we were tempted but kept walking. In the end, we decided to try the new kebab place that’s opened up opposite Nippon Fare, next to the Sicilian restaurant, where the Cold Rock Creamery ice cream shop used to be. I forget the name of the kebab place. Chad had a falafel kebab:

I ordered my chicken kebab with egg and barbecue and garlic sauces. I love egg in my kebabs. You get a choice of two sauces with your kebab, but I was quite disappointed in the sauces when I tasted them (or rather, tasted one of them!) – the barbecue sauce was rather watery and I could barely taste any garlic sauce at all. Usually when you have a kebab, the garlic sauce should be really strong, mega-garlicky – I don’t know what happened here – cheap and nasty sauce? Not enough sauce? No sauce ? Otherwise, the kebab was pretty good. The egg was great. I forgot to say “no onion” and tasted raw onions all afternoon! Next time, next time!

After we finished our kebabs, we crossed the street to grab our workmates’ food from Nippon Fare. “I’m still hungry,” Chad said. “So am I,” I replied. And right then I decided to supplement my kebab with some sushi. I grabbed a five-pack of chicken teriyaki sushi for AU$4.40. Chad did the same! The kebabs came in regular or large (actually, maybe even jumbo – I must admit I wasn’t paying much attention at the time as I was starving – next time I will confirm – I need to confirm the prices too and the name of the place, I was really slack on Wednesday, wasn’t I?!) – maybe next time I’ll have to get one of the larger sized kebabs. Or a combo meal which comes with kebab, chips and a drink. The kebab place does burgers too (beef burger or steak burger, no chicken unfortunately!) and pizzas. Perhaps another time we could collect money from the team and grab pizzas. Mmmm!

The sushi was great. My eyes were a little bigger than my stomach – I only managed two pieces. But they did the trick – I felt finally satisfied. I just stashed the leftovers in the fridge and ate them the next morning for breakfast when one was looking (I didn’t want to have THAT conversation “Whaaaaat? You’re eating SUSHI for BREAKFAST?”). :) Sushi and a cup of tea – surprisingly good in the morning!

Thursday: I went with Chad to Snap Printing on Hay Street – she had some special party invitations she needed printed. The plan was go to Snap and then see what there was for lunch along that end of Hay Street. For some reason we tend to gravitate to the other end of Hay, where Nippon Fare is. Anyway, when we’d finished up at Snap, Chad suggested we check out this other Japanese place, which I hadn’t even known was there – it’s called Kome. I was really excited to see that they have chicken karaage on their menu – as you guys know, I absolutely love fried chicken! I love Nippon Fare, but to my great regret, karaage is something they don’t offer. And so quite predictably, I ordered the karaage meal deal – small size. It came with rice and miso soup. Large also includes salad. This was fantastic value for AU$7.40, and my food was ready in only a few minutes.

I’ve tried to like miso soup over the years, but something about it – its smell, its texture – just doesn’t agree with me. On this occasion I decided I would give it a go again just to check if I still didn’t like it. A sniff and a sip confirmed it – I still don’t like miso soup!

Chad and I both agreed the rice was cooked to perfection for eating easily with chopsticks. Like any vain person after eating I whipped out my mirror to check for black sesame seeds which may have lodged between my teeth. :)

Here’s my chicken – topped with barbecue sauce of course! The chicken was delicious – crispy batter on the outside, juicy gingery chicken on the inside.

Chad ordered the teriyaki tofu meal deal (AU$7.40 for the small).

The tofu looked yummy – and Chad confirmed it was!

Friday. I decided to give The New Guy a better pseudonym – after all, he’s not quite so new any more! From now on he’ll be SRM – Super Rice Man. I think I may have found somebody who loves rice even more than me! :) Chad had a seminar to attend and wouldn’t be back until 1:30pm. I’d thought I might be able to hold out until then to grab lunch with her, but tummy started growling from 10am and I realised I was fighting a losing battle. When SRM asked if I’d be up for lunch at Han’s, I eagerly accepted. SRM chose the steamed chicken rice (AU$8.95). It’s not really “chicken rice” in that the rice is not cooked in chicken stock – the dish is chicken AND plain rice. Tasty, but I wish wish wish I could get Hainan chicken rice for lunch somewhere in Subiaco. If any of you out there know of a place, please tell me!

SRM could also be called SCL – Super Chilli Lover. He always asks for a dish of cut chilli with whichever rice dish he orders, and pretty much eats all of it with his meal.

I felt like a curry and ordered the Thai green curry chicken rice (AU$8.95). As usual, I consumed everything you see in this bowl, plus the rice. SRM prefers green curry to red, just like me. Which do you guys prefer?