“Who picked this place?” Jeff asked.

Cristina and I laughed. Google Maps told us we were already in Balwyn North, but it would be another 10 minutes before we reach Cafe Matta. We had been on the road for almost an hour already. A fair bit of a drive from where we both live just to meet up with co-workers for brunch.

Which is why I asked Jeff to drive. Neither Cris nor I were comfortable navigating a new territory.

And to answer Jeff’s question, it was Tania who chose the cafe. She said it’s “really good.” Complete with her trademark OK hand gesture.

She booked us in for 10:30am. By the time Cris and I got there at 11:00, everyone had already ordered and we only had 30 minutes to an hour left before another group would take over our reserved table. Which goes to show how popular the cafe is considering how it’s in a rather secluded area away from the main shopping centres that it seemed as if only Asians knew about it.

Anyway, with everyone talking and catching up with Tania who recently resigned to work in the public setting, I let Cris order for me as I thought we were both ordering Ebi Katsu Curry Don. Turns out she ordered Chicken Katsu Sando, which explained my confusion as to why I was having chicken instead of prawns.

Cristina thought the food was excellent.

It was alright.

But OMG, their cappuccino was it for me. *Insert Tania’s OK hand gesture* By far, that was the best cappuccino I’ve ever had in my short coffee-drinking life.

But I’m not driving all the way to Balwyn for it, though.

It was a good catchup. So nice to see Tania again and everyone laughing over stuff that happened at work. Being the youngest, she’s like the baby amongst us. Very Gen Z, with her BTS and her Tik Tok.

One time, I asked her something about operating our reprocessing machine. She was like, “I don’t know. Just freestyle it.”

She cracks me up. She really does.

And, yes, I do enjoy working with these ladies. With most of us getting old and losing the drive for more adventurous endeavours such as working in public, we’re happy where we are.

Until further notice, that is.