Old Faithful

It can be tricky business sometimes when you end up having a late lunch and know you have dinner plans, so you really need to curtail normal ordering habits. Such was the conundrum (and first world problem) I experienced on Saturday. GG and I had spent a few hours shopping in the big city and were feeling pretty peckish. Perhaps while GG had been in Politix trying on a few things I had taken the opportunity to have a quick look at Facebook. I mean why not? Gotta keep up to date. I happened to spy a particularly delicious looking picture that Old Faithful had posted and I was reminded that I hadn’t actually been there yet and I do enjoy American style BBQ. So it was time to remedy this clear oversight.

We wandered to King Street and headed inside. At 2pm there wasn’t a huge crowd in attendance but I was thankful for that. It meant getting a table was very easy. We sat down and the friendly waiter brought us menus and provided some guidance on ordering which was appreciated, since this was our debut visit.

We decided we would just order two types of meat, which was a bit of a challenge because our short list definitely extended beyond two. But we narrowed it down to three and then tossed a coin and pork bumped chook and I headed up to order the meats, along with a few sides.

• 200g Beef Brisket ($8.90 per 100g)
• 200g Chopped Pig ($7.70 per 100g)
• 1 small Coleslaw ($5.00)
• 1 small Potato Salad ($5.00)

I then stopped by the bar section to order two of their Two Brothers Apple Ciders. First time I had tried this type. Very pleasant. Not too sweet.

The food arrived fairly swiftly and comes presented on a tray with a few slices of fresh white bread and some sliced onion. On the table you also had your choice of sauces including barbecue, hot and a vinaigrette.

I started with the chopped pig and it may not have looked the prettiest but taste wise it was a big winner. Slow cooked to a juicy, tender perfection and packing plenty of flavour, plus I think some of the in house BBQ sauce had also been drizzled on top and it added a slight sweetness which actually worked beautifully.

It took a massive amount of restraint to limit myself to just one slice of lovely, fresh bread and construct a modest half sandwich with some of the pork, a little of the onion and another dollop of sauce. So. Damn. Good! I swear that other slice was calling my name but I focused my attention on the meats – the star attractions and helped myself to a few slices of the brisket. I had thought it looked a little dry but appearances were deceiving and it was actually very moist and tender and had quite a spicy kick to it. Yum.

We were pretty happy with our meat selections and I sensed a return visit was on the horizon so we could try a few more, with as much accompanying bread as we fancied. Ahhh lavish.

Of the sides we ordered I would say I preferred the potato salad. It had a really tasty herbed dressing.  The slaw was ok, but wasn’t my favourite, would probably have preferred it a little fresher.

Our visit had been short and sweet, but we two happy meat lovers, who left feeling quite content and keen to return to explore more of the menu.