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!
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?
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.
Heatherwick Does It Again!
The cauldron at London 2012 is nothing like I’ve seen at any other Olympics.
And like the New Bus for London, it’s out of the studio of Thomas Heatherwick. Read more about it here.
It enabled a number of promising athletes chosen by our more successful past Olympians to light the cauldron.
I may have found some of the things in the Opening Ceremony a bit naff and politically correct, but I’ll give two hundred out of a hundred for the way the cauldron was designed, built and lit.
The New Buses Are Back
I saw two at the Angel today and actually took one home.
The New Buses Are Back
Note that every one is now advertising a London show. They only seemed to disappear for the rehearsal of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I suspect each one is advertising a particular show and will the cast of each be getting out and doing a turn. After all London is the theatre capital of the world.
Where Have All The New Buses For London Gone?
I went all the way home from Victoria today and didn’t see one going the other way.
Either it was just chance or could there be some devious plot to use them for the Olympics.
Was this a practice?
Two New Buses For London Kiss At The Angel
Because of the Torch Relay, you don’t pass anybody these days, but kiss. Here two of the New Buses for London kiss at the Angel.
Two New Buses For London Kiss At The Angel
As there are now eight in service, we’ll see more of this.
London Receives Its 300th Hybrid Bus
This report says that London has now got three hundred hybrid buses on the streets.
It also says that there are seven New Bus for London on route 38. I’ve only seen five.
And Then There Were Five!
I passed New Bus for London, LT8, on the way back from the Angel this afternoon. So that means at least five; LT1, LT2, LT4, LT6 and LT8.
Is The New Bus for London A Bus With Presence?
Coming back from the Angel tonight, I caught a New Bus for London from Islington Green. When it was spotted, quite a few people moved from the standard 38 bus in front and walked back a few yards to make sure they caught the New Bus. Obviously, some people prefer it.
But seeing them on the road, it strikes me that the New Bus advertises itself and other drivers get out of the way. It could be that as it looks bigger, although it isn’t that much so, people are wary of it and move over. I’ve not heard of an accident involving a New Bus, but then there are only five on the road. But then since, I’ve lived here, the only accidents reported involved the dreaded bendy buses. I would love Transport for London to publish all bus accidents, so they could be properly analysed.
Speaking as a pedestrian, I always notice a New Bus, when I see it. But then I would hope I notice all other buses, when I cross the road. On the other hand, because the lights on the New Bus are more prominent and probably better-designed, it is easier to ascertain what one is doing.
The New and the Old
The picture shows the New Bus alongside one of its predecessors. Note the bigger and more prominent lights on the New Bus.
The Anonymous Widower 