Double ups
On Tuesday I cooked us pork katsu for dinner. We had the katsu with Kewpie and Bulldog sauce, rice and finely shredded cabbage. Even though I knew that breaded, fried meat was what we were having for dinner, when I went to Scotti's for lunch in the sun I ordered a breaded, fried chicken ciabatta. Not a deliberate decision, just a funny coincidence.
On Wednesday I took lunch to the office - a leafy salad with shredded roast chicken, hummus and a pita bread for tearing up and dragging through the hummus. That night, after several pints at the pub (Spring is here, baby), we found ourselves picking up dinner at 10pm from our kebab shop. “It's Romeo and Juliet,” they said as we walked in. We ordered grilled chicken and lamb shish kebabs which came on top of pita, with hummus, salad and chilli sauce.
Today I planned to walk to Soho, first to pop into a few of the supermarkets in Chinatown for fresh noodles and deep fried tofu puffs, and then to have lunch at The Shaston Arms. Specifically, I wanted their merguez sausage and chips baguette sandwich.
Realising my tendency to eat essentially the same meals twice in a day, I made a conscious effort when I was at Scotti's with my uncle this morning to not order a sausage sandwich. Instead, I got a BLT.
As it happens, I didn't end up getting the mergeuz baguette for lunch. Instead, as I walked through Chinatown, I remembered the recently published Vittles Guide to London's Chinatowns. Specifically, I remembered Jonathan Nunn writing about a dim sum restaurant where he swore by the prawn and chive dumplings and cheung fun filled with deep fried bean curd rolls, prawn and sesame. A ‘textural riot’ he called the latter. Lotus Garden was the spot, and that's where I ended up for lunch. I will go again and order exactly the same two dishes. They were brilliant.
After lunch, I walked to Bar Italia for a little glass bottle of Coke in the sun. Everyone had the same idea as me, because this is a city where once the sun comes out, so do all of the people. So, I walked to the Shaston Arms instead. Not for a baguette, but for a little glass of Grillo, which I'm drinking outside right now. It's not exactly Mediterranean summer just yet - I'm in a jacket and trousers - but it's tantalisingly close. Each sip of Grillo, I can just taste being sea salt and sun kissed and covered in the dust from eating crisps with a glass of cheap Italian white wine.
Good to not have a double up of meals today - no prawns or Chinese food on tonight's menu. But one thing's for sure - there'll be a double up on wine when 5pm rolls round.