Took an early price on ‘Tuesday’ to win The Oaks at my local William Hill. 17/2 v the eventual 13/2. Great race. Photo finish. No other bets. Not that crowded for a Bank Holiday. The funfair was much smaller and the market on The Hill too.

A chap who got on the bus at my stop left his wallet on the seat. So I saved his day by returning it.

Wandered down to The Amato after the race to see the gypsy forecast for The Derby which gets written overnight. Walk of Stars this year. A decent price but an unpredictable horse. Gypsy tips used to be better than newspaper tipsters but no so much in recent years. Probably worth a punt though. Early price William Hill again.

The Amato used to be a pub with a nice garden and a decent pint of Young’s. Now a gastro pub and closed on the day.

Beige OAP Harrington, Peter Christian Madras shirt, wranglers MWZ13, stout Veldtschoen shoes (Hoggs of Fife) baseball cap from Whistler/Blackcomb.

There is a bigger profit margin on food as opposed to drink.

I had a small curry at Spoons yesterday with a Leffe. Just over £7. The beer was over £4 if not included in the meal deal.

That said, I quite fancied trying the 2 Michelin * Kerridge pub The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, but his set lunch price shot up after covid lockdown. We came out of the British Legion and saw Ricky Gervais and his wife in the window of a different pub.

I read an interesting book a few years ago about eating out in England.  Poor or at best indifferent food served 'more in anger than sorrow'. 
The book was published in 1928. 
Then, the Journals of Viscount Torrington or the non-fiction musings of Dickens.  Difficult to find anything edible.  The main character and his lady friend in Orwell's 'Coming Up For Air': treated with disdain by a head waiter. 
Up here, years ago, in an Italian 'trattoria': 'Can you please leave the herbs off the pizza'?  (My elder daughter, then a fussy eater).  'Oh no.  You see, it comes like that'. 
Yet TRS and I once lunched very nicely in an Italian place a short walk from Chiltern Street, and a place near us, 'Basilia', is tip-top.  Triple-decker sandwiches, some of the best coffee I've ever drunk, excellent service.
Of course, a change of ownership and everything changes.

Were out on a cycle ride and called into an Italian deli on the roadside at Walton on Thames, where they serve great coffee and paninis. The proprietor recommended a pizzeria place in Staines where he said the pizzas were on a par with anything he had tasted in Italy. So we tried it a few weeks later and, sure enough the pizzas were superb. The service was poor though as they were preoccupied  with scooter fellas coming in to pick up delivery orders.

We also have a Korean restaurant here that is said to be the best in the UK, so good that the diplomats from the N Korean embassy make trips out from their embassy on the North Circular to eat there. I haven’t tried it myself but apparently their meatballs are the dogs bollocks..

I still recall fondly the first pizza I ever ate: at a seaside town in Liguria, 1971. 
There was once a very good Italian on Camden Parkway.  Sometimes, when visiting London with family, we would meet up there after I'd been to pay my respects to Lord Johnny at Russell Street and they'd visited the zoo or theatre.  Daft English people in, though, demanding mint sauce with lamb. 
Turkish food is my current favourite but service is sometimes pretty bad.

My working class upbringing was a tad different to that of my wife.  My mother liked to experiment with crap like 'Vesta' Chow Mein (which I adored), whilst my late mother-in-law (feeding seven) ventured as far as serving up spaghetti with tomato sauce but served roast spuds with it.  She did a wonderful retro 50s-style salad on Sunday afternoon until the very end: even down to the jar of salad cream. 
Good food in supermarkets nowadays, though, if you can bear to enter them.  Lidi sometimes do a 'French week'.

My elder daughter, during her first marriage, would think nothing of spending £80 on a meal for two - without wine.  This would be ten or so years back, in a pleasant but insignificant town near Scunthorpe.  Now, on her second marriage, she talks of nothing but 'economizing' whilst complaining that there's nothing decent to eat in the house.  Eating out for them is a thing of the past. 
But the English are quite capable of fucking up beans on toast.  And don't get me started on scrambled eggs.  I insist on preparing them for myself.

Lidl have a different cuisine most weeks. Post Brexit I avoid French. Stilton instead of Camembert. Will happily eat Spanish or Portuguese. Lidl do a good offer on frozen sardines and they have those custard tarts, if that is your sort of thing.

New World wine has a new benchmark price. You can get very nice merlot etc for under £3 now! I don’t drink a lot of wine. A third of a bottle with a meal maybe.

Some of you will probably disapprove - as I do - of the way food is served in some of the daffier places.  'Will you be dining with us today?' is code for, If You Just Fancy A Pint Of Wallop, We'd Rather You Pissed Off Now'.  Then the rubbish comes on a slate, in a metal bucket, sometimes even in a toilet bowl.  How amusing, I hear you say.  Then there is the insane mixing of flavours (like coffee or chocolate beer). 
Avoiding French food?  Not on your life.  I only steer clear because of my rather austere diet.  I bloody love French food.  I adore it.

Ireland is known for being a gastronomic black hole, although in the decade plus I’ve lived here, things have started to improve. I don’t tend to eat out here often but I am a fan of the two local farmers markets, one of which I visit on a weekly basis. We are fortunate enough too to live in what is possibly the most foody county, with an annual food festival in my local town - complete with enormous 100+ stalls food market, where producers arrive from every corner of the isle, I’ve had some lovely stuff from that market and am looking forward to attending next weekend when it makes its return after a two-year absence. Eating out now is pretty well reserved for holidays abroad or infrequent visits to Dublin & Cork, both of which have some half way reasonable eateries, although we probably have a chinese takeaway once every three weeks or so.

Last edited by Tim (2022-06-04 06:27:41)

i’ve not been to Dublin central in four years I think, before that it was probably two years. Does little for me as a city and realistically it takes me a extra 30-40 minutes to get to London, including waiting at the airport.

Lidls and Aldi can be insidious. It’s all to easy to go around thinking ‘ooh that looks nice and its so reasonable’ and shoving what ever it is in the trolley. A recent health issue caused us to review our shopping habits and it was disturbing to see how much, salt, sugar and fat are present in their processed foods. So these days we visit there for staples, also fruit and veg which are okay if you use them quickly.

All these decisions are made whilst adorned in textbook Ivy clothing by the way.

Apart from my self acknowledged fondess for beer (not excessive) my diet is fairly healthy. I’ve always had porridge for breakfast every day since I was a little kid. They say it makes you live longer … or maybe it just makes your life seem longer.

You haven’t got time to cook if you’re too busy watching Masterchef or its many spin offs.