Old People Eating

To get to Siena for a short break there is a choice to be made. Either fly to Florence and take a one hour train ride, or fly to Pisa and take a longer train ride with a change at Empoli. Neither of us had seen the leaning tower so we went for option two.  Having got off the train we eventually found a taxi to take us to our accommodation for the next two nights; Ca' Bianca. This old house has 14 guest rooms and we had booked one of the two suites available. This was far bigger than we needed with a sitting room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, but it was lovely. The whole place was lovely. Very peacefully set in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We ate dinner here twice. The first evening we were not too hungry as we had eaten an unexpectedly large and slightly late lunch in Pisa, so we shared a plate of mixed crostini to start. Three were topped with tomato and three with chicken liver. We followed this with, for me, a bowl of Cacio e Pepe and for the lady spaghetti wi...

We arrived in Pisa too late in the evening to get any food and that was a surprise as on previous visits to Italy we had gone out in the evening and found it was too early to get any food! The following day our morning started with a walk towards the Torre Pendente and a stop on the way at this little Cornetteria. Excellent coffee and delicious home-baked pastries. The Italian answer to the French croissant is the cornetto which is not an ice cream flogged by an operatic gondolier. The young man behind the counter was the owner's son and, rightly, he was proud to tell me his father baked all the pastries every day. An excellent start to the day.

This was part of a group trip to prematurely celebrate a good friend's 60th birthday. The evening previous has been excellent and this was the gentler second day. It began with boat trip from Chelsea Harbour to Greenwich, itself good fun. After a brief stop for coffee and an optional look around the market we had lunch booked in Goodard's at Greenwich. This is a traditional pie and mash shop, opened very early in the last century, which sells, er, pies and mash. Hot eels and jellied eels are also on offer and there is a choice of gravy or the more appropriate 'liqour' that is a curious shade of green. I believe it is parsley sauce. The menu is redolant of the famous Monty Python sketch set in a café that serves Spam, spam or spam. Customers may order pie, double pie, even triple pie with mash, or double mash. My advice is to have pie & mash. A real experience. Very busy, very good value. No table service and quite right, too.

Sometimes we enjoy a simple sandwich and sometimes something a little more. This outing was most definitely of the a little more variety. Recommended by our most regular dining, and indeed traveling, partners we booked an overnight stay with them at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. Surrounded by impressive gardens and beautiful scenery this Elizabethan house is now a very well appointed hotel with a modern dining room that has been tastefully added to the original building, providing views over a small part of the extensive grounds. The bedrooms are spacious, well equipped and elegant. Much like their occupants on this occasion.   Gravetye offers a full tasting menu but we had chosen a three course seasonal dinner. Each of us chose the traditional starter, main course and dessert and found these were all enhanced with additional elements starting with the two item amuse-bouche of Parmesan and white truffle pastry and a lobster roe cone. Later came the spectacular tomato t...

This record of Old People Eating began on 17th February 2022 with atrip to the splendid Artichoke in Amersham. That was a celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary and today was a birthday treat. I am very happy to report that this restaurant remains an excellent choice. We once again had the tasting menu (the full one, of course, rather than the lunch version) and it was thoroughly and deliciously enjoyable from start to finish. Perhaps the hand-dived scallop had been cooked for a few seconds too long, but that was easily forgiven and forgotten as the meal continued. I posted the menu in 2022, so feel I should do the same here: For special occasions and a real treat, we will return.

We spent the morning walking along a truly beautiful Northumberland coast, to the east of Bamburgh.  Wide stretches of clean, soft sand and mudflats with a wide variety of shore and sea birds. This sharpened the appetite and we found The Craster Arms in the seaside village of Beadnell. Two pork belly with mashed potatoes, crackling and seasonal vegetables, followed by one bread and butter pudding with custard and one Cointreau Irish coffee. And a bowl of water for the dog we had borrowed so that we could talk to strangers.

Today included a trip to Lindisfarne, aka Holy Island, and a walk through the priory and out to the castle. It's a great place to visit with plenty of bird life and some seals just off the coast. The weather was mostly kind, especially when it mattered and helped to develop a good appetite for the evening meal previously booked at the Apple Inn in Lucker. This is an attractive but sizeable gastro pub just threw minutes on foot from our holiday accommodation. No starters, although these were very appealing (I would have chosen the twice cooked cheese soufflé), so straight into the main courses. Two lamb shanks with autumn fruits, one lemon sole and a feather blade of beef. Followed by one sticky toffee pudding, one three-scoop portion of ice cream and two signature white chocolate and apple mousse desserts. These last choices were served looking like Granny Smith apples, but we're so much more. All well-cooked and presented with a Northern English welcome.