I had lunch at Shiok! today with some friends after attending Sunnybank District Baptist Church (a visit - left my car at New Farm & carpooled with Maria & Ivan). The place was packed when I arrived with Maria & Ivan (after the 3 of us shopped at JB-HiFi), so it meant we waited outside for a table - & we weren't the only ones waiting. We were still waiting when Jay (it was his idea that we lunch at Shiok!) & Melina arrived. But thankfully, we were then taken to our table.
I ordered the Shiok! combination laksa, & it was definitely shiok, i.e. tasty. The cost was $9.80, but the laksa came in such a huge bowl & there was a fair amount of ingredients. The gravy was thick, which is good as it meant there was a stronger curry flavour, which is how I like it (given my strong bias towards spicy food). I must say, though that all that handling of the laksa with the chopsticks left some stains on my shirt - more than on any other occasion that I had laksa. The others at my table kept looking at my laksa bowl, probably admiring the view! There was also another table filled with some people from CCCB St Lucia who came after church, & some of them (including Winston) came over to have a peek at my laksa, asked me how good it was & then decided to also order the same for lunch! Oh, I also bumped into Sharon who also happened to be there with a group from her church. So, quite a number of groups from different churches rocked up for lunch! I took a picture of the laksa on my mobile camera, & one day I might post the picture here (after figuring out how to get the pic from my mobile onto my PC - I'm so technology illiterate). It was great to catch up with Jay & Melina, especially Jay whom I last saw at my sister's wedding reception at the end of March!
After lunch, we headed back to New Farm as I had to attend the Qld Roar pre-season friendly against visiting South African club, SuperSport Utd. I went with Terence & Catherine to Suncorp Stadium to watch the match. The match kicked off the "Queensland Roars Against Racism" campaign, & spectators were given plastic red cards at the entrance of the stadium to symbolise giving racism the red card. Before the kick-off, there was the playing of the national anthems of South Africa (by a choir) & Australia (by James Blundell). I really like the South African anthem, both in Afrikaan & English.
The match itself (3pm kick-off) was fairly good, though I won't say outstanding. Final score was Queensland Roar 4 SuperSport Utd 1. Comprehensive win for Qld Roar. Qld played a reasonable game, at least in attack anyway, & all their 4 goals were scored on SuperSport keeper's left side. Qld must have noted that this was the keeper's weak side as he struggle a bit when diving to his left - hence why they often attack that side of the keeper. SuperSport were physically strong & they did create some good chances for their swift forwards (at least 3 chances), yet poor finishing meant they only managed to convert 1 of those chances. For that reason, they lost by a big margin. The final score could have been 5-4 or 6-4 to Qld. Overall, Qld were definitely the better performing side & did deserve the win. It's only a pre-season friendly, but Qld Roar overall played better than they have done in many A-League games. It is hoped that Qld will be able to draw maximum encouragement from their showing & spur themselves to good things in the A-League. It surely is time for Qld Roar to finish in the top 4.
The one feature of the game I didn't like was the disgraceful lunge by Qld's new recruit at left back, Tiatto, on one of the SuperSport players. The SuperSport player had to be stretchered off & could not continue the match. The SuperSport players didn't make a big deal about the incident (they seemed to be in vacation mode - perhaps this contributed to the scoreline). Yet, someone has to make a stand against such brutality. It has no place in football, & I condemn Tiatto for that. As Terence correctly remarked, it's only a pre-season game & so there's no need to go in so hard. SuperSport's own left back himself did some strong challenges during the match, but at least he played the ball. Tiatto, however, played the man.
The match aside, there was also some interesting half-time entertainment - some African drums (from Kenya & Ghana, apparently) & African music, the Aboriginal didgeridoo, Brazilian capoerira performers, Bolivian dancers. The African drums also were played on the sidelines during the match itself, giving the stadium lots of African beats. Good stuff. I dunno if all that entertainment will be around during the A-League season; I hope so! It would be fun. But entertainment or not, the main thing is for Qld Roar to have a good season. Go the Roar!
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