The Best Restaurant For Coeliacs In The UK
For my birthday yesterday, my son took me to Arbutus in Soho for dinner with a couple of friends.
It was the usual high standard and everything was immaculate as usual.
I must have been a dozen times or so now, including twice for lunch this year and it never fails to delight with some unusual ways of cooking. Last night I had peas in a puree with roast vegetables as a starter, followed by rabbit, which was one of C’s favourites. The rabbit was accompanied with a little cottage pie in a ramekin dish, containing the vegetables and some small pieces of meat, probably from the legs of the rabbit. Now that is a simple idea for a dinner party, where the main dish is say a leg of lamb. In which case you’d use some lamb mince in the pies.
I’ve said that this is the best restaurant for coeliacs in the UK and it may well be. But there are few restaurants in the world, that do gluten-free food as well as Arbutus.
Arbutus isn’t cheap, but for a special occasion, say before seeing a show in Shaftesbury Avenue to celebrate a wedding anniversary, it must be unrivalled. C and I went a couple of times after seeing a matinee on a Saturday.
One thing they do is sell all the wines in 25ml. carafes. This cuts the cost and if you’re incompatible in terms of wine with your partner, like I am with my teetotal son, you can indulge your taste.
The restaurant is also very easy for me, as I just get a 38 bus to Chinatown and walk up Frith Street. Sadly last night Transport for London, didn’t provide one of their New Buses for London. I shall be complaining!
The Ladies Who Bus
Three retired ladies are using their Freedom Passes to travel every London bus riute from end-to-end in numerical order. The project is described here on the BBC’s web site.
And I thought I was mad visiting all the 92 football and Premier League clubs in alphabetical order.
The Angel Was Like A Morgue
I went up to the Angel as I usually do and it was like a morgue. There was only myself and one other in the queue in Starbucks and I got my preferred window seat. I didn’t see anything worth photographing for the blog.
Waitrose was empty too and I think the staff were lonely, as many talked to me, whilst they were stacking shelves and looking for items.
There weren’t any chuggers or smokers outside the shopping centre!
And of course the bus was virtually empty coming home.
Perhaps, some big event has finished and everybody has left. The bus doing press-ups has gone too!
This Bus Is Beautiful
Coming home from the Angel late this afternoon, as I was getting on one of the New Buses for London, an attractive black lady of about thirty or so, approached the driver, leaned over so he could hear and said “I just had to tell you, but this bus is beautiful!”
How many times has such a statement been said about a humble bus?
A Comedy Turn At Highbury Corner
I went up to the new littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner this afternoon. No problems in the shopping and in fact the shop is better than its medium sized sister at Islington, as the gluten-free selection is better and the self-service tills are easier to use.
Catching the 277 bus home, I was treated to one of the funniest comedy drunk acts in quite a few years. An obese lady, probably about fifty, with hair died a bright purple, was trying to board a bus. The stream of invective would have outshone a navvy, who had just dropped a sledge-hammer on their foot. When I arrived the lady driver of the bus, opened the door and let me in. she seemed totally unmoved at the invective and smiled widely, when I said thanks for waiting for me. In the end, the drunk was left on the pavement, still screaming loudly, much to the amusement of passengers.
One of the great advantages of Routemasters and their predecessors, was that the conductor could give a signal for the driver to leave quickly. I’ve actually seen a conductor do this, when a drunk was balanced on the rear platform and then give a small push, to make sure the drunk toppled into the road. Health and safety would stop such extreme measures these days.
Chasing Jessica
I’ve been trying to get this iconic advert using Jessica Ennis for a few days now, before it disappears.
Chasing Jessica
I finally caught it on a 38 bus at Islington tonight.
Judging By The Number of Adverts, Keith Is A Lemon
The film Keith Lemon is getting a lot of bus adverts.
Judging By The Number of Adverts, Keith Is A Lemon
This generally means only one thing; the film is terrible.
How To Sign A Bus!
Yesterday, going to the Olympic Park, I noticed that the New Bus for London, I was on, had this plate on the back stairs.
How To Sign A Bus!
in some ways, this is a modern interpretation of how all London Tube Trains had the maker’s name and manufacturing date on each carriage.
Olympic Walking Routes
Yet again last night, I feel victim to the badly laid out walking routes away from Olympic sites.
From the Olympic park, they always assume you want to get away on the Jubilee line to the centre of London, so late at night they always ban you from going to Stratford, where they funnel everybody across the bridge to the station. As I want the Overground out of Stratford, it’s very difficult for me. They want everybody to walk to West Ham. It’s probably quicker and easier to get to Dalston from Welwyn Garden City, than it is from West Ham.
Let’s face it, the Jubilee line is about as useful to me, as a chocolate teapot.
In the end last night, I walked to Eaton Manor Gate and then found I just missed the W15 bus, I needed to get to Hackney Central for any number of welcoming buses home. I should have taken the Victoria Gate and walked through the park for a 277 or 30. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I had a similar problem at ExCel trying to get to the cable-car, where you had to walk twice the length of the Excel building to get going in the right direction. Wasn’t the Emirates Air-Line supposed to be an important part of the Olympic transport network?
I can only assume that Olympic travel routes were drawn up by someone who doesn’t walk or use a bus and probably lives in Houston. They certainly didn’t bring the 488 bus into their thinking, despite the fact that Transport for London said they extended the route to Dalston for Olympic purposes.
They certainly made it difficult for those who live close to the stadium and just a couple of Overground or Underground stops away difficult.
To The Olympics The Back Way
Yesterday, I went to the Olympics to see the morning’s athletics.
I didn’t go the normal way, but took a 30 bus from where I live to the northern side of Victoria Park and then walked. It was about half past seven and the big red taxi wasn’t exactly full.
A Big Red Taxi To The Olympics
The front seats at the top were of course taken. This way I pass C’s bus stop.
C’s Bus Stop
Although she wasn’t Cecelia but Celia, her maiden name was Roads. I wonder how many people have their own bus stop!
I got off at Wick Lane and then it was a walk through Victoria Park to the Greenway Gate of the Olympic Park. The pictures for this are shown in a separate gallery post.
The Anonymous Widower 