Lunch at In a Pickle

In a Pickle
http://www.inapickle.com.au/

My old highschool buddy Bee came to visit Brisbane over the Christmas break. We arranged to meet up for lunch on Christmas Eve. I figured that anywhere too close to the city or near a large shopping centre would be packed with people making last minute shopping trips so I found a cafe in the suburbs that sounded promising.

In a Pickle is located in Camp Hill amongst a stretch of other boutique cafes, gift shops and bakeries. I've been to Mia's Coffee Bar near there and enjoyed that. I didn't research much into what In a Pickle was, figuring it was just another cafe. It was quite different to what I expected, in that it's predominantly a catering business. If I had read the website properly I would have known that!


As you can imagine, a catering business on Christmas Eve would be crazy hectic. There were a couple of small tables outside and Bee was already sitting at one when I got there. There was a proper cafe menu for breakfast and we were both planning to order something from that.

Coffee

When I got inside, I saw that In a Pickle doubled (or should I say, 'tripled') as a sort of grocery store as well. I saw a lady line up just to purchase some yoghurt and many others picking through their assortment of gluten free Christmas puddings. Whilst in line, I noticed that I could also order from the salad and sandwich menu for lunch. I changed my original order to a Vietnamese chicken salad instead. Bee stuck with her breakfast choice, plus a cup of coffee.

Vietnamese chicken salad

My salad was unfortunately quite disappointing. The flavors were good and the bits of chicken that were there were tasty. There was hardly any chicken though. The salad comprised almost entirely of vermicelli noodle. I would have liked more chicken and perhaps some fresh herbs.

Breakfast potatoes with pesto mushrooms, scrambled eggs and toast

Bee's breakfast potatos came as a huge plate of stuff. She quipped "this is another example of my eyes having a bigger appetite than my mouth". She started off well, munching away at everything but lost momentum once the quantity overwhelmed her. Bee did enjoy her meal though.

I liked In a Pickle for its concept and friendly service. I think my underwhelming experience came from being there at the wrong time of the year and ordering the wrong thing. Seeing Bee's plate gives me confidence that it's a decent place for food.