Yesterday evening was the mass celebration of our daughter's engagement. This evening was the quieter affair with the happy couple and one set of parents.
We chose La Pont de la Tour, a French restaurant which is part of the D&D group, that can be found on the south bank of the river Thames just to the east of Tower Bridge, from which it takes its name. We didn't sit outside; it's still January.
The older generation arrived first and a few minutes early. The younger generation arrived fashionably late, having been to another gathering where they had bumped into a real live movie star and somehow the allure of Old People Eating was insufficient motivation for the use of a wristwatch. Do young people even have wristwatches? No matter, as the perfectly acceptable tardiness gave the early shift the opportunity to engage the Sicilian bartender, or should I say 'mixologist' in conversation about holiday opportunities. For us, not him.
It also gave our new friend the chance to provide us with small, free, samples of two of his cocktails. The second was a Bloody Mary. This was very familiar, but packed a memorable punch. The first, however, was very intriguing. It was a Breakfast Negroni. This was made in the same way as my current favourite cocktail, the Negroni, but also included amongst its ingredients gomme (syrup), orange juice, English breakfast tea and milk. We'll probably never have another, but it was very enjoyable.
The happy couple arrived and another G&T was ordered alongside Tony's Margarita. We took these into the dining room and found it to be quite busy, where the bar had been very quiet.
Given we were celebrating, glasses of Nyetimber brut kicked things off and the menu was ignored for a few more minutes. Eventually, three starters were ordered: Onion soup, the house terrine and an aged beef tartare. Portions were not mean and all of the choices tasty.
For the main courses: two half lobsters, one bavette steak-frites, one rabbit Parmentier accompanied by green beans and spinach. The rabbit was mine and I very much enjoyed it, although as the beef tartare had also been mine and the portions of neither lacking, I didn't leave my customary empty plate.
The dessert course offered several tempting options, but three of us elected the crepe suzette and the other the Paris Brest.
The restaurant was a good choice for a small celebration and the untried options on the menu hold sufficient appeal that one day a return could possible.
By the end of the meal we had joined the Outstay Your Welcome Club (cheers, Oly) and we had to move on to the final stage of the evening, which was some light removal preparation as the happy couple, having become betrothed, are within 24 hours of each other relocating to Beijing and Los Angeles, respectively. Crazy young things. We love them both.
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