Ba Ba Black lunch
Last Tuesday I didn’t take lunch to work, and J, CF and I decided to eat at Ba Ba Black (Shop 25, 60 Royal St – Cnr Plain St, next to The Royal pub). Yes, I ate there two days in a row!
CF had skipped breakfast that morning and was craving bacon and eggs. Luckily for her, Ba Ba Black serves breakfast until 3pm daily. CF ordered two poached eggs with bacon and toast (AU$13.50).
She mashed her poached eggs onto her toast before eating. I reckon the egg yolks could’ve been just a tad more gooey, but they looked pretty good to me.
J also felt like having something breakfasty for lunch, and having seen my photos from my recent breakfast with C, she was keen to try the scrambled eggs herself. So she ordered scrambled eggs, bacon and toas (AU$13.50)t. Both she and CF really liked the thickly cut toast; CF ordered wholemeal bread, and J had white. Ba Ba Black does make lovely toast – it’s crisp on the edges but chewy in the centre. I’m sure I’ve said many a time how much I love chewy rather than brittle, break-your-teeth toast.
I went in a different direction and ordered the beer-battered basa fillets (AU$18.00 – yes, that controversial fish again!) served with shoestring fries, spinach salad and a generous serving (much appreciated!) of homemade tartare sauce. The spinach salad was very simple and delicious, with thinly sliced red onion, crumbled fetta and a light balsamic dressing. The fries were a little cold compared with fish. Presumably the fries had been cooked first and had sat waiting and getting cold while the fish was cooking. J also noted that while her scrambled eggs were piping hot, the bacon on her plate was served noticeably cooler.
Unfortunately, just like the deepfried battered fish at the Royal pub next door, the hot goldeny batter was fantastically fresh and crispy, but the fish inside was soggier and limper than I would’ve liked. Despite this, I enjoyed the dish. I like a good crisp batter, and this batter was superbly crisp. I’ll still be happy to eat at Ba Ba Black in future – but next time for lunch I might try one of their burgers. A tandoori chicken burger sounds pretty good to me.