The Man in the Canteen - Nunawading City

The Man headed to Nunawading City first up this week, a club who has been in turmoil off the pitch recently with their senior coach and club departing ways and several senior players walking as a result. 

It has been a long time since I had been to Mahoneys Road Reserve, if I recall correctly the last time I was there was for an Under 13 'Regionals' match (I scored the winner as well for memory), but that is going back a fair while now, so I was surprised to see that not much has changed.

The pitch is still a pretty decent surface as I remember it, and the rest of the reserve looks much the same as well, with only an extra room being a small addition to the existing pavilion on the hill. It does however look like Nunawading have taken over the clubrooms at the ex-AFL ground on the other side of the carpark with a few people from both clubs opting to sit on the balcony there and watch the match. Another positive sign for our brand of football with a Churches match taking place at the same time on the oval.

Now before I talk about the food, I would like to acknowledge the hard working volunteers at clubs like Nunawading, people who give up their time to work on match days to help out their club. I have worked in a kitchen and cooked food for a club in the past and have copped my fair share of criticism for it, but I hope if the volunteers at Nunawading are indeed reading this, that you see my comments as constructive criticism and don't take them to heart.

A Souvlaki can be a difficult thing for a club to pull off, and I am perfectly willing to accept diced lamb in a roll as a Souv, but today I felt that Nunawading had it all wrong and here is why....

• For starters the roll was a standard soft supermarket hotdog roll, which after sitting in a bain-marie (although I was assured it was freshly made) had a consistency similar to that of a Red Rooster microwaved 'Rooster Roll'.
• The Lamb was fine although personally I think the regular diced lamb would go better than the stuff with the 'Gyros' seasoning coated all over it.
• Mixed lettuce in a souvlaki is a no-no. Stick to the basics, iceberg lettuce is fine.
• No (or very little) Garlic Sauce, perhaps it is because it was the gyros seasoned lamb, but Garlic Sauce on a Souvlaki is a must!
• More is more, a good souvlaki has lots of everything particularly if you are selling them for $7 each!

Now unfortunately for me I had decided to go to Box Hill for the second half as they kicked off at the later time of 3:15pm. They also had Souvlaki on the menu and I wished I had held off for the extra hour as Box Hill had the full spit in operation and it looked and smelt spot on the money!

The Girl in the Stands who was with me opted for the Chicken Schnitzel Roll, which came with lettuce, tomato and cheese. She had no complaints, but it did look like the same quality materials were used and it again cost $7.

FOOD

Souvalaki - $7

Chicken Schnitzel Roll - $7

Hot Dogs

Potato Cakes

etc.

BEER

None at the canteen from what I saw, probably served at the clubrooms across the carpark.