Post Pay Party: Grill'd+Max Brenner

So for the last few months, I've been organising largeish get togethers of workmates whenever I see that 3-4 of us have days off together. I normally go out after night shifts at the hospital on my first day off and also if I want to go to somewhere that's been highly recommended on Urbanspoon. This is not an uncommon occurrence by the way, since we have night duties once a month.

However this is all temped by the fact, that I'm essentially a hobo with a full time job and a house to pay off. I'm broke the majority of the time, I hoard the little money I have after compulsory life payments like a miser and eagerly await the next pay check. Also hoping I don't get metaphorically kicked in the balls with a car break down, council rates, serious injury and other anxiety crap. I am not alone however, my young nursing buddies who, unlike me, spend their money on young people stuff like clothes, cars, eating out and other shopping junk are also flat broke. My slightly older workmates, have the same problems as me, mortgage, bills and other fun stuff. And so, I started Post Pay Party!

Basically after ever fortnightly pay week, I will choose somewhere to go and everyone will meet there and eat food. I never choose the same place twice, and it has to be somewhere different from the last place, so no same cuisines. Anyone is invited that is not working that day and lots of pictures are taken. Then I get hassled at work about the next place we're going to. It works fantastically though, as this is the only time anyone will ever have money to go out.

I've had a pretty good track record so far, making Flute Fine Foods, Mecca Bah, Freestyle Tout and Wagaya pretty popular amongst my workmates. In addition, I'm probably the only person in my group of friends who would have the balls to dislike where we are going and openly complain about it. Even though I rarely go out, my compulsive urbanspooning and food blog reading lets me know all the cool and uncool places to eat at. I'm also the only person to remember everyone's dietary requirements like GF, vegan, no beef, no pork and friends.

We're not quite in PPP mode yet, but J. decided to host a Magic Mike night where we'd go to Grill'd at Southbank first before hitting the cinemas. Friday girls movie night to watch a movie about stripping. I'm not really sure what else the movie was about, I just heard Alex Pettyfer was in it, so I was keen already. Classy right?

Ladies night wooooooo~

Grill'd was packed. Its currently a very popular store of semi-fancy healthy burgers with gourmet aspirations, although they cheekily maintain they are anti-foodie in a few of their recent local menus. I guess its just a fun poke at the snobby attitude of some foodies who are above eating chain burgers even if they have interesting combos like a chicken and brie burger or a pear and feta burger. Made fresh to order, their chips are amazing but a solid rosemary rock salt makes most things smell amazing. They have a massive community giving back focus too, like your local IGA does. They give each patron a bottle cap which they can donate towards one of three causes, at the end of the month, the cause with the most bottle cap gets 300 bucks, and the rest get 100. One of the causes was Schoolbag for children without educational supplies, a Queensland Mental Health one and something else. I threw all of ours in the Mental Health one.

There was a line reaching the door and every single table seemed to be taken up. Luckily, Z. is quite happy to chat even to surly teen boys and politely asked them if we could share their bench. However, J and I did get stuck getting under the benches due to our long skirts. I didn't take pictures of the venue, I'm not quite that creepy yet. Or used to my new phone.

Gross. Apparently it grows on you.

A. and J. both ordered this cider and then told me to drink it. I didn't like it too much, it was quite bitter and not as fruity as some other ciders I've tasted. What do I know anyway I don't even drink. We all ordered separately, opting to share chips amongst ourselves. I don't think the wait was too long, but we were talking the whole time and spent over an hour in total there.

My crispy bacon and cheese burger

I was the first person at my table to receive my burger, although our chips all arrived at the same time. It was pretty good, but I took out the skewer and never thought to leave it in to hold everything in place. I know for next time. It was just a simple cheese burger, but I was feeling keen for a solid beef burger cause their patties are fantastic. I waited for everyone else to get theirs, so it was a bit cool when I actually started eating. Everyone said they didn't mind, but I still felt bad being the only one there with food.

J.'s Gluten Free Bird and Brie burger

 J. has been cursed with coeliac disease, a terrible auto-immune disorder that unfortunately means gluten does to her what lactose does to me. Incredible bloating, gassiness and feeling generally sick. We'll wave aside the rest of the lecture and sum it up with no gluten for J., so basically anything with flour is ruled out, like pastas, bread, cakes, as are many everyday snacks, as its used as a common binder. J. tells me that Grill'd have pretty good GF buns and that she liked her burger.

Grill'd Chicken salad

 Z. opted for the Grill'd Chicken salad, hoping to be healthy, which is odd cause we immediately went to Max Brenner afterwards but oh well. I remember feeling like she polished this off faster than the rest of us put together! Although there was a lot of rocket left over, so I don't think Z. is a fan.

A.'s Front Bar Steak sandwich

A. ordered a Front Bar Steak sandwich and patiently waited for me to finish spinning the plate around to find a decent angle hahaha. All my friends have been fantastic, as I've poked, prodded and photographed their food since I've started food blogging. They were even pretty good before that, when I took pictures of their desserts a few weeks ago when we kept going to Freestyle!

B. also came along, but she spent a long futile time in the city trying to find a free park on a Friday night. She ordered the Simon Says chicken burger. I didn't get a picture as having come in about 15 minutes behind us, her food was also late in arriving and she had started eating before I had even picked up my phone ahahaha. 

As you can guess from some of my comments already, we actually didn't make it to watch Magic Mike, as all the sessions were closed until 9pm. So after a good long chat at Grill'd, we packed it off to Max Brenner where we waited for an hour in line before ordering drinks and J.'s solo dessert. We spent a long time talking there while tables cleared all around us. It was a good night out even if we didn't get to go to the movies :)

A chocolate lick with added on sides!