Take away lunch @ the Deli Counter, Queen St Melbourne

So the Deli Counter is a little cafe and lunch place that has popped up along Queen Street, offering organic and vegetarian lunch fare.

Plates (or take away boxes) range from $16 - $20 (mine was $18) and give you the option of a meat and three sides, or a vegetarian dish and three sides. I took the roast lamb as my meat and zucchini cooked with preserved lemon, roast cauliflower and spiced pumpkin as my sides.

So, I'll just come out and say it, I didn't like it, at all. I may have chosen poorly (for instance, the chicken looked OK in the store) but nothing had much flavour (except for an unpleasant metallic aftertaste that stuck with me through two black coffees and dinner).

Starting with the lamb - it was bland, bland, bland (the only flavour seemed to be garlic, nothing else) and it was also very very pink and chewy. Undercooked is of course not usually a problem; I like my steak as rare as the next person, but not when the meat isn't the greatest quality and needs some cooking.

It got somewhat better with the veges. Parts of the cauliflower were ok (the nice caramalised roasted bits) and the rest was mush. Flavorless mush. The zucchini was better, having nice caramelisation and some actual spice. The spiced pumpkin lived up to its name and was nicely roast and nicely flavoured.

All in all, disappointing. I won't be back, however other people seemed to be enjoying their meals (in particular the chicken) when I was waiting for my take away box, so your results may absolutely differ.