16 September 2015

Pillar of Salt

Review September 16, 2015 0

I remember at the start of this year before our hospital attachments begun, a cardiologist came to us and spoke on the importance of having a work-life balance (his words), and not just be a work zombie (slightly paraphrased). After all, h appier doctors are associated with higher rates of patient empathy, greater patient satisfaction and lower rates of medical errors. One of his tips to avoid burn-out was to have two things to look forward to every week, and was one which stuck in my brain. It's one that I try to abide by, because relaxation, like anything, requires practice. Knowing when to give something your all, and when not to push yourself too hard, is a skill and requires practice... right?

Something I've recently started was to schedule lunch with a few friends at a different restaurant every week, just to have something to look forward to. Pillar of Salt was one that we have tried, and one that I heard about only recently. It boasts of excellent online reviews, and everybody was surprised I hadn't heard of it before. It was a brunch place that N has been itching to try for some time, so off we went.

We were wary of the peak-period brunch crowd, so we set off early and reached around 9.45. We got a table relatively quickly, but when we looked out of the window half an hour later, there was already a queue forming out in the cold. Lucky us! There was a flask of hot jasmine-honey tea set up for people queuing for a table, and was a thoughtful little gesture.

Bonus! As they wait in line, they can enjoy the scent of hot buttermilk pancakes drifting from the window sills where they cool.

And... darn it, I want some of these cute wooden cutlery. To eat honey (I'll buy some) with and be all posh.

I ordered a Magic, one of those found-in-Melbourne-only drinks, which intrigued my friends. There are great magics, and some not so great ones. This one had a pretty sour taste and falls more into the latter category. It didn't make a great first impression on my friends when they took a sip either.

You have to admit, the barista knows his latte art.

I was enticed by the Turkish eggs, but I stuck to the safer option, the Red Chilli Scrambled Eggs ($18) that was raved about online. The sourdough bread it came with was good, and I particularly enjoyed the crust. I appreciate the huge pile of scrambled eggs, but I have to say that the taste gets monotonous after a while. I want to like it. I do. But it wasn't particularly impressive. I spotted the table besides me ordered the Turkish eggs, and it looked really good. Hmm. I should have gotten that instead.

My tablemate's Benedicts ($17,50) looked lovely, and especially when paired with an addtional order of feta cheese ($4) alongside. I took a bite, and I loved it more than my scrambled eggs. The grass is always greener at my friends' plate... But I guess the richness of the hollandaise sauce gets tiresome after a while, and most of it ended up getting scrapped to the side of the dish.

The American-style Buttermilk Pancakes ($15.50) that we ordered to share was based on a strong recommendation of a reviewer on Zomato, because he said it was the best buttermilk pancakes he had ever had. He means well. But it wasn't. Like, at all. S enjoyed the chocolate-infused maple syrup, but everybody else wrinkled their nose. And the Rhubarb-Vanilla Bean jelly squares scattered across the dish did the food no favours.