Here’s how he looks Day 5, still smiling. I will see him again on the last day, Jan 31st, and possibly once more in between. Let’s see if there’s visible strain.

I happily tagged along for two meals yesterday, starting with lunch at Tuck Shop 68 East 1st Street, New York, NY 10003, where we met Niall and Lincoln, owners of the Australian Pie shop, who have generously provided the food you will see. We started with a sausage roll. Greasy meat rolled up in flaky dough for $3 is a decent but forgettable winter grab and go.

Instead, grab a seat (despite it being not too pretty in there) to have the Spicy Meat Pie Floater. The Spicy Beef Pie is turned upside down and pea soup poured right on top. Drizzle with sriracha (as advised by Niall) and it’s so much better than I expected. Sloppy looking mess, but the texture of flaky pie crust, crumbly but moist ground beef, sitting in a pool of mushy peas (not fancy fresh peas) is somehow so comforting. (Perhaps, I could go to Australia and become a trucker. Not!) Along with that slowly building spice, it does cure the winter chills (until your forced outside again by lunch partner who is looking for wi-fi).

The Thai Chicken Pie with sweet chili sauce is not bad. Chicken is tender, lighter than the other options, but just didn’t interest this picky gal.

For dessert, their vanilla slice, which Naill described as a rustic Napolean, is that, but the cream inside has a controlled sweetness, making the glaze on top actually useful. The resulting balance is nice.

For me, the clear winner is the Meat Pie Floater ($9), and make sure to get one of their fresh house-made orange seltzers. It’s refreshing and cleans the palate.

Stay tuned for our dinner at Caracas Arepa Bar (with their new rum bar) in Brooklyn.

Ordering at Sunburnt is similar to that of something like a cheap theme restaurant. You sit down to a paper menu with a pencil handy. You check off what you want to eat and hand in the menu. While the kitsch is what it is, we were unimpressed, particularly when it turns out that one item was unavailable and they ran out of a second item– both which we learned AFTER turning in our orders. This point highlighted another flaw in their ordering system, they requested people write their names on the menus; however, they were unable to read some of the handwriting. Anyway, I saw the waitresses transcribing orders onto standard notepads, so the intermediary step seems a waste.

Jessica and I were the only people to order an appetizer– the Fried Calamari with Kiwi-Jalapeño Salsa. Our food showed up 45 minutes later! Some people were not complaining, probably due to the amount of alcohol being consumed, but I did enough complaining to cover them. When the calamari did show up, it was hot, but tasteless. The seafood was cooked until rubber, the kiwi was mushy, and there was no taste of the pepper.

The food for the table started arriving 20 minutes later (well over an hour past when we ordered). Happily all the food was served piping hot, along side a second glass of their complimentary house drink, a Mango-Juice & Tequila Shot (which was tasty). My order of beef ribs had a distinctive tomato and fennel-seed taste, almost like Italian sausage, which I enjoyed. My side order of corn and crab ragout was wonderful, a great overall flavor, albeit, incredibly buttery. When you order a main, you can pick one of their sauces. I had the spicy mango chutney, which sat, left-over, on the side of my plate, save for two tastes from me and Jessica.

Jessica had the grill fish, a 1/2-inch thick fillet of barramundi. It was slightly over-cooked, but quite good, and again, hot. Her side-order of Mushrooms & Shallots was not as good– it was pooled in liquid and tasteless.

Overall, the food was mediocre and the service was atrocious — we think our waitress was slightly mentally handicapped. And after two hours sitting on an uncomfortable bench and chair (I actually grabbed a pillow off a nearby seat to help), we were itching to leave, plus Jessica was going to run Saturday morning.

I’d recommend you run, right past Sunburn and try some other place.