The explosion of food places in Melbourne means that I'll never catch up. Living away means that each opportunity I have to come back involves a brief read online of where is new and subsequently where all the queues are. There used to be nothing (I can think of) along Church Street other than furniture stores, but now Pillar of Salt, Kong, and a few other eateries have opened up in the area.
Pillar of Salt was on my way to Burch & Purchese. I thought to myself as I drive past, if I find parking and the queue isn't large, I'll swing in for breakfast. Even though it was 1030am on a Sunday, I couldn't envisage a time where I found Church Street busy. How different it is now. There were 10 pairs of people ahead of me on the door list, but it was only a 15min wait in the end. By the time I left at 12pm, there were even more people waiting outside. They had a pineapple and chilli iced tea (very sharp chilli taste without much heat, minimal pineapple) for those braving the wait.
- Superfood Smoothie (banana, blueberries, cacao nibs, coyo yoghurt, chia seed, shaved coconut, rice malt syrup & almond milk) $10 - an excellent jug with the great sweet flavours of yoghurt, banana and berries interspersed with sharp crunchy of cacao, a soft crunch of coconut (when drinking it from the lip, as it doesn't fit up the straw) and small crackles of chia. An expensive drink, but full of good ingredients;
- New Orleans Pinto Bean Jambalaya & Twice-Cooked Sticky Pork Belly (with poached egg, housemade toasted cornbread topped with Monterey Jack cheese) $21 - nice hearty thick soup/thin stew of beans, corn and carrots. My poached egg was unfortunately overcooked (only a small amount of liquid) and the extra $4.5 for a very thin slice of pork belly was a little much. The sticky quality of the pork belly is somewhat lost in the soup. The cornbread is actually excellent and has some spice within it. It's a nice meal but I think overpriced.
I do think the kitchen is overwhelmed for the number of patrons it receives. My food didn't take long (and I didn't have to forcibly socialise like all the other pairings), but I could see some disgruntled people having waiting 30+mins for food, which is much longer than the time it takes for them to finish their token coffee. My smoothie took 5 minutes. My meal took 22 minutes. I was happily reading a newspaper, using my phone and enjoying the atmosphere. If you aren't happy to wait, go somewhere else, go at a different time, or go with people you are happy to talk to (or go alone).
Next time I would order the 15th Century Cilbir Eggs with Sujuk Sausage ($20) or Kimchi, Corn & Sweet Potato Fritters with Poached Egg ($21). The prices are a little high to be honest. A poached egg should be standard with fritters in my opinion. But none of this will stop people from coming, from queueing, from waiting, and from complaining.
