Physiol Eatery & Cafe, University of Queensland, St Lucia

Two Thursdays ago, I continued my recent trend of sampling dishes I had not yet reviewed in this blog.  On my break from work I went to Physiol to see if they had anything that looked appealing, and one thing caught my eye:  roast pork.  At this point I will divert slightly and mention a few words about Physiol (the same is also true of UQ's other refectory:  Main Course Food Precinct).  Physiol has set dishes, such as chips, pies, sandwhiches, and so forth.  They also offer other dishes that are more like meals instead of snacks, but these dishes vary from day to day, so you never know quite what you're going to get.  So roast pork was one might refer to as a daily special.  I didn't feel like a roast pork meal, but I did decide to get a roast pork roll.  This was something of a gamble.  I have had some revolting roast sandwhiches from carveries, and I wouldn't say Physiol have a good reputation as a carvery.  Nevertheless, the pork looked decent and as the lady carved it, it looked like I was in for some decent roast pork.  To accompany the pork, I had some gravy, crackling, salt, and pepper.  The first bite I took was rather fatty, but to my delight the rest of the roll was filled with some good quality roast pork.  I was very happy with the crackling, although it got a little soggy for my tastes, but I'd like to see the crackling that doesn't get soggy when smothered in gravy.  I have noted in this blog in the past that Physiol's gravy is less than excellent, and while that may be true, when combined with good pork, crackling, salt, and pepper, it is quite satisfying.  The roll did suffer from some of the inevitabilities associated with roast rolls.  Namely, the distribution of meat, gravy, crackling, salt, and pepper was a little inconsistent, but there's not much you can do about that.  However, when I took a bite that had the right mixture of all of those flavours, I was very happy.  So while this roll may not have been perfect, it was a good example of what a rather standard roast pork roll can be.  So positive was this experience, that I would be interested in trying what Physiol's attempt at other roast rolls are like.  Even if it turns out that they can't roast, say beef, to save their lives, I'll know what I'll be ordering if I am ever lucky enough to show up on a day that they are serving roast pork.