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#26 2021-12-17 04:51:01
- RobbieB
- Member
- Posts: 2219
Re: 'The Curator'
When I'm in the UK I eat out a lot. Generally in the Southend area there are lots of restaurants, pubs, cafes to choose from. On my last trip I visited some of my favourite places and was shocked at the recent drop in standards. One shoreline cafe used to be great, but not any more. I know the owner and he admitted that he no longer tries very hard to please. The pandemic has 'knocked the wind out of his sails'. Sad to see good, honest, hardworking people suffering.
I also went to an Italian restaurant that was absolutely fantastic. Family run and four generations milling around. We were made to feel part of the family.
Down at the old town of Leigh, Osbornes is the place to go for seafood. Generations of a cockle family doing their thing.
Plenty of places for the people with more money than sense but it all adds to the ambience.
'I am a closet optimist' Leonard Cohen.
#27 2021-12-17 04:58:39
- A Fine Sadness
- Member
- Posts: 3009
Re: 'The Curator'
Funny you should mention seafood, Robbie. We were in Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham, a few weeks ago. The smell of shellfish was wonderful. Nice, quite old-fashioned looking place. I wonder if Wheeler's are still in business. Beeston has a very good Turkish restaurant called 'Anatolia'.
It was a shock to me when, a few years ago, at least one local butcher began selling mutton. Trendy, you see. Any time before that to have asked a butcher for mutton would have been like asking for veal. You'd have got a dusty answer.
The pandemic. I can well believe it. But one of the very best fish and chip shops in the county is ten minutes drive away.
#28 2021-12-19 01:31:30
- A Fine Sadness
- Member
- Posts: 3009
Re: 'The Curator'
Yesterday in Aldi: 'artisan' chocolates and 'hand crafted' chocolates. All very Laura Ashley/retro/nostalgic. And pure, unadulterated bullshit.
#29 2021-12-19 07:20:32
- Kingston1an
- Member
- Posts: 4187
Re: 'The Curator'
‘Yes, calling bread artisan justifies adding £2 to the price of a loaf.’ You must have seen worse excesses when you were based in Central London, Woof.
I remember Poilane loaves - named after a fashionable French baker - on sale at £9 each, maybe 10-15 years ago.
Let them eat cake.
"Florid, smug, middle-aged golf club bore in this country I'd say. Propping up the 19th hole in deepest Surrey bemoaning the perils of immigration."
#30 2021-12-19 11:50:09
- A Fine Sadness
- Member
- Posts: 3009
Re: 'The Curator'
Len Deighton enjoyed laying into the purveyors of nouvelle cuisine in France. He laid stress on the value of traditional, middle-class cooking: soup, chicken, salad, cheese, fruit (for example). If ever I found myself willing to pay £9 for a loaf of bread I would know that I was in possession of a good deal more cash than common-sense. Good Turkish or Polish bread comes in at about 99p a loaf. Nothing 'curated' there. A glance or two at Ebay reveals decent items of clothing that have been 'tweaked' - for no sound reason other than the belief that the 'hipster' or whatever they choose to call themselves will swallow the bait.