Sábado em Moema. It was a familiar name to the entourage. It was the restaurant chain owned by Marina’s parents. None of them objected to financially supporting Marina’s family with a desire for Brazilian Chinese food.
It was located on Grey Street, the main thoroughfare running through South Bank, with a second frontage facing Little Grey Street, towards the South Bank Parklands. What a convenient location.
They entered the restaurant. Considering the international student population around the area, its decorations reflected that demographic skew. The unexpected novelty of the concept behind the restaurant attracted new potential customers while the quality and high standard of the food kept them around.
They sat down at a big table for all six of them. They were staffed by a man with cropped, curly brown hair and striking green eyes behind a pair of glasses.
“Good afternoon, may I please get your order?” said the waiter.
“Oh, hey Joe,” Matt recognised the waiter.
“Matt?” said Joe.
“You two know each other?” Sabrina asked both of them.
“Yeah, we go way back,” confirmed Matt. “He inspired my interest in music in the first place.”
“Yeah, we’re childhood friends,” said Joe.
“That’s amazing!” said Sabrina. “Marina and I have only known Matt since high school.”
“You’re also friends with Matt?” asked Joe.
“Yeah. My name is Sabrina, but you can call me Sab,” said Sabrina. “And you must be Joe.”
“If we’re introducing each other, my name is actually Yusuf, but you can call me Joe,” said Joe. “It means Joseph in Arabic, anyways. What are you guys doing here?”
“We’re having lunch,” said Kevin. “We’re also discussing potentially starting a band.”
“That’s very interesting,” said Joe. “I’d like to be a part of a band, but my expertise is around fiddling with electronics, DJ-ing and such, so I’d find it a bit hard to fit myself into a band with that kind of role.”
“Well you’ve expressed interest,” said Matt. “So I reckon we’d be able to fit you in. I’ll keep you up to date about it.” No one objected.
“You know a lot of people, Matt,” said Marina.
“So do you,” replied Matt. He glanced at Kevin.
“Well, thank you, guys, but I really have to get back to work,” said Joe. “What would you guys like to order?”
Then the group of 6 ordered a variety of different dishes. Since it was a different branch of Sábado em Moema, Kevin decided to order a different dish, bacalhau vermicelli, with spicy Sichuan-style pastels as a side dish.
Nina and Xavier ordered their usual caipirinha chicken, as expected of that couple.
Marina ordered knife-cut feijoada noodles. Kevin knew what feijoada was, but he wondered what made knife-cut noodles special.
Sabrina ordered pulled moqueca noodles. Kevin had no idea what moqueca was.
Matt ordered a Silk Road churrasco wrap. It was basically Brazilian-style grilled beef wrapped in flatbread and flavoured with some Chinese-style spicy sauces.
Once Joe was done taking their orders, he walked away.
“Matt, Joe’s a DJ, right?” asked Kevin.
“Yeah, kind of,” said Matt. “He does more than just that. He can be a one-man orchestra if he really wants to. He’s very good with manipulating electronic equipment to make music and design sounds.”
“Hmm, this is a turn of events I didn’t expect,” said Kevin. “I want to have another meeting but with him included as well.”
“He should be clocking off soon, so he can actually join us pretty soon,” said Matt.
“Sweet,” said Kevin. There was a strong sense of déjà vu. He first met Marina this way. “I’d like for us to know each other better.”
It seemed like the idea for a band was really coming to fruition, and in a way possible that Kevin didn’t expect.
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