An Excursion South Of The Sewer
I ventured well past the big sewer this morning, travelling underneath it on the Overground, through the Thames Tunnel to New Cross Gate station. The other side though, was far from dry.
Rain and Few Bus Shelters South of the Sewer
You can tell too, it’s South London, as the bus stops don’t generally have shelters. It also always rains, when I go there.
My destination was the cafe called With Jam and Bread.
With Jam and Bread in Lee Green
It was good and the gluten-free orange, chocolate and almond cake, I had with my coffee was excellent.
From my point of view, the cafe has another advatange. It has its own bus stop both ways, so is easy to get to.
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!
I Thought London Was Empty
Various doom-mongers have said that London was empty.
I Thought London Was Empty
This Carluccio’s in Covent Garden seems to be bucking the trend. It looks like it’s standing room only!
The Visitor Paradox
We have pointers that show that London is not as busy as it normally is at this time of the year.
- The buses aren’t full.
- Trafalgar Square is emptier than usual.
- The Emirates Air-Line isn’t busy.
- There is moaning about empty restaurants.
- I did try a hotel site and found there are rooms available.
- I bet too, the taxi drivers aren’t happy.
- I’ve not had any difficulty getting a seat on the Underground lately.
On the other hand, the public seats at the venues are generally full and I’ve been in two 70,000 plus crowds at Wembley this week. Some tickets too are unobtainable, although others are still to be picked up in small numbers on the web site.
We won’t really know until we see the full statistics for things like transport spend and bed occupation to know what has actually happened.
But could London have created a totally different type of Olympics to what we’ve seen in the past few Games?
- London has masses of free attractions like museums, galleries and parks. So have many visitors decided that a visit to the National Gallery is better than spending money on an expensive lunch?
- London is a day trip away from a vast area of Northern Europe. So have people decided to fly in or take the train for a day or so and spent the money saved on tickets?
- London has a vast expatriate community. It is for example, the sixth largest French city. So are many of the visitors camping on the floor of their friends and relatives homes? Let’s face it, if one of my sons was living in an Olympic city, that would be the time I’d go.
- It is said that a lot of the empty seats seen are those allocated to sponsors and the Olympic family. So have corporates decided that the sponsorship has been worth it, but allowing their executives to party in these times is not on?
As I said, we won’t know until we see the statistics.
It’s The Only Apron I’ve Got!
I cooked a Morroccan chicken casserole on Friday night and because of the height of the new cooker, I get the odd splash.
Cooking a Casserole
The apron was a present from a Michelin-starred chef from Glasgow, who’s moved his restaurant, Mr. Underhill’s to Ludlow.
Any resemblence between Chris Bradley and myself is purely coincidental.
Cote Brasserie
I had lunch in Cote in Upper Street, Islington yesterday.
I had a very good leek and potato soup followed by chicken and frites from their lunch menu.
I wasn’t paying, but at £9.95 it was good value. They seemed to know what was OK for me, well.
I shall use them again.
I’m Getting Fed Up With Carluccio’s
I should say that I have no complaint against Carluccio’s. Quite the contrary. It’s just that on my travels around London and sometimes further away they are the one place I can trust to get a light gluten-free meal at an affordable price.
Take my trip last week to the East India Dock Basin. It was either go to their restaurant in Canary Wharf, the one in Islington or go home. I chose the last option.
If anything the complaint is against other restaurants, who don’t provide a gluten-free option. In some chains like, La Porchetta, I know that some choices are gluten-free, but when I ask, they treat me like a leper and tell me to go elsewhere.
Will I Look Like This If I Eat Beautiful?
I took this picture at the Angel in Islington.
Eat Beautiful
So if when the restaurant opens and I eat there, will I get to look like one of these lovelies?
Checking the web site of the company, itsu, it would appear they are being honest about allergies.
Reading the menu though, I doubt it will increase my 30 inch waist much. It’s been that ever since I left University and the doctor in Hong Kong, thought that my core strength helped me survive the stroke. I’m beginning to doubt that, as I think the stroke wasn’t as bad as it was painted at the time and they gave me the super-duper clot-busting drip in time.
Rabbit Awareness Week
To celebrate Rabbit Awareness Week, I ate an excellent rabbit in Arbutus last night.
This restaurant is surely one of the best places to eat gluten-free in the UK. The chef, Anthony Demetre, is I believe a coeliac, so you never have any trouble choosing something to suit your taste.
The restaurant, despite its location in Soho, is not as expensive as some I could name. In fact, because of the way they sell wine in 250 ml. carafes, it often works out to be extremely good value.
Paying For What You Eat
This is a great concept from Brazil, where your restaurant bill depends on how much you eat.
Strangely, it might be good for gluten-free, as you could only choose the food you know was safe.
The Anonymous Widower 