Yes, I'm back! We did go to Flanagan's over the weekend - without reservation, as they don't seem keen to answer their phone and there's no online booking. No problem getting a table - my soup was delicious, as was the bread that came with it, and we were happy enough with our mains, although my casserole was a bit salty. Desserts were fab. Entertainment was provided by the table of Dubliners that planted themselves next to us - all friends, meeting up for the bank holiday weekend. (Some had hired a boat - that's big around Killaloe.) And a gloriously warm and sunny one it was too! Right up to when I flew back to London last night.
Well, Meetup isn't doing too good a job at providing me with ideas midweek! So I did one of my least favourite things to find something for tonight - I trawled the mess that is the new Time Out search engine. You can't search by date anymore, you know - just "Today", "Tomorrow", "Next 7 days", "Next Month" and a search for everything that's happening forever more. So if you're looking further than one day in advance, you'll be trawling through a whole heap of stuff that's irrelevant. This is all then appended on one page, which takes forever to load. Tip: if you click on anything for further details, make sure to right-click and open it in a new tab, so if you need to return to the listings page you won't have to start from the top again!
In the end, I was delighted with what it threw up, though - Des Bishop is doing a series of shows in the Soho Theatre. I love Des, and although tickets were still available for most of the shows at that stage, I saw that one had sold out, so I booked. Just in case.
My preferred route to the Soho Theatre is via Leicester Square - although it's still crowded, it's nowhere near as bad as trying to hurry down Shaftesbury Avenue. So, I made my way through Chinatown onto Shaftesbury Avenue, which I had to cross to get where I was going. I made my way to the pedestrian crossing at Dean Street.. where I was joined by a chanting, tambourine-banging, group of Hare Krishnas. I crossed the road a little ahead of them - but behold, they followed me up Dean Street. I mused that it would make an interesting audience mix if they were coming to the show - but no, they turned off before we got there.
And so I arrived and got my ticket, glad that it was downstairs so I didn't have to deal with too many steps. Mind you, that was always more of an issue if I'd had to fight through the crowds on my way from Piccadilly Circus, and was breathless by the time I'd raced up Dean Street. That's if I made it in time at all. Tonight, mine was about the second-last ticket to be picked up, and downstairs was jammed. There are ushers to get people seats, and mine found me a chair very near the front. Lovely, and I sat. Unfortunately, one of those old-fashioned wooden chairs with poor back support - but never mind.
Wasn't long until the show started. Now, when I booked the ticket, I'd thought I hadn't seen Des Bishop live before - I'd forgotten that time he was in the Galway Arts Festival. On that occasion, he was fresh from spending a year in the West of Ireland, learning to speak Irish - and his routine was heavily based on that. (He's Irish-American, was sent to boarding school in Ireland as a teenager and never left. Ireland, not boarding school!)
As he explained in tonight's show, the Chinese are much like the Irish - doesn't matter where in the world you end up, there you'll find them! Anyway, during his year in the West of Ireland, he took a job in a fast food restaurant, and found himself working alongside a Chinese guy who became his friend. And later, when his Chinese friend was visiting his family in China, he took Des along. And Des explained how he was blown away by Chinese hospitality, and developed the idea to spend a year there, learning Chinese. And this he did, which provides the substance of his current routine.
It's Des Bishop, so this is not a show to bring your elderly mother to. Well, not your average elderly mother - or anyone who's easily offended. Mind you, he's far from the worst offender on the circuit. He was delighted to find some Chinese in the audience - picked on a Chinese couple in the front row a bit. In a nice way - he made such a fuss of them, and went out of his way not to offend them. Spoke to them in Chinese several times, to clarify points he'd just made. A large screen to the side acts as an aid to his talk, as he shows videos and slides of his year in China. And he stored up a wealth of observations to share with us.
In his hilarious and inimitable way, he points out all the quirks of Chinese society that we as Westerners would find so odd. He's brilliant at observing a society as an outsider, and does the best job I've seen of describing the Irish (we also got a mention or several tonight). And let me praise his Irish accent - he naturally has an American accent, but puts on a perfect Irish one when he desires. Which ain't easy to do. And now he's turned his focus on China - I can't really speak to his Chinese accent, which sounded authentic enough to me, but he bantered quite happily with the Chinese audience members. Oh, and this would be an interesting show for anyone learning Chinese - he has some interesting observations on that..
Good ol' Des, never disappoints! The show was sold out tonight, and apparently is for the rest of the run, until Saturday. Good thing I booked!
And the reason I can blog so late is that I'm not going to Guildford tomorrow after all - the meeting was cancelled. So I was a bit rushed today, finding something for tomorrow - Meetup had some very strange things, and several I just didn't fancy, so in the end I went with Time Out again. Luckily, I could search under "Tomorrow". I was thinking of A View From the Bridge, until I discovered you can get a whole production on YouTube. And anyway, tickets were a bit pricey. Instead, I'm going to My Night with Reg, a comedy at the Apollo Shaftesbury - which, coincidentally, I passed on my way home tonight! This theatre is infamous for having had its ceiling collapse last year, during a show - I assume they've fixed it! Anyway, cheapest seats were available on the official website, and say "Restricted View" - but I read a seat review that said they're fine. So we'll see.
And on Friday, I'm venturing on another Meetup (they have a better selection on weekends) - the Walk About London group is going on a walk from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge. At night, to see the lights of the City on the other side as you pass. Now, that should be lovely! I'm only gutted that I forgot my camera yet again - I left it in Ireland, and only remembered it as we were pulling into the airport. Nuts.. just have to do my best with my cameraphone.
Showing posts with label Flanagan's on the Lake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flanagan's on the Lake. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Monday, 16 March 2015
Restaurants: The Abbey Tavern, Flanagan's on the Lake, & The Grove
Back in Ireland at the moment, and reviewing three at once because it took until the third to have anything worth saying.
On Saturday, we went to the Abbey Tavern as usual. Got about the last parking space - there had been a confirmation AND a wedding in the church across the road. Plus the regular Saturday crowd - they remarked, as we went in, that we'd arrived at just the right time; the crowd was beginning to leave. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood for this place, but what can you do? I had the steak, which was basically fine, if a bit tough. Hadn't the appetite to finish it. I also asked them out straight not to include salad, which I never eat. And boy, am I sick of the sprig of wilted parsley they always perch on top of every dish. Ah well, anyway it was, as I say, fine.
Yesterday (Mother's Day), my mother wanted to go to Flanagan's on the Lake, where we hadn't been in a while. So off we went, on what turned out to be an unusually nice day, and took the scenic lake drive. Again, we got the last parking space by the water - and when we went in, we saw why. It was packed! The narrow bar in the middle, where you enter, separates the two eating areas, and the corridor there includes a podium with one of those "Please wait to be seated" signs. There's a convenient, and comfortable, bench there, so there we sat until a nice (she turned out to be Polish) waiter got us the manager, who told us there'd be a 15-minute wait. We couldn't have got anywhere else in that time, so wait we did, and watched all the families out with their mothers.
The poor, frazzled manager pointed in our direction every time he dashed past - to remind himself, I think. And he really did his best to seat us as soon as ever he could. Handily, we were seated in the round tower section, which is a bit quieter and has good views. And our waiter (that Polish girl again) suggested that, instead of the table she'd been told to seat us at, we might like to take a wall table that was free, and surrounded by plush armchairs. Ok then, we said - she okayed it with the manager, and we sat there.
We didn't fancy the starters - so I just had chicken, my mother just salmon, and we ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms. They were out of the chicken special, so I had the a la carte coq au vin, which I've had before. It does surprise me how small their chickens always are. Still, it was extremely tasty, and the accompanying veg had been cooked with honey, by the taste. The mash was strangely bland, I thought. Still, my mother was happy with the taste of hers too, and we were both tastily and plentifully fed. Which is just as well, because the mushrooms we'd ordered - which we didn't have the appetite for - were dessicated and rather tasteless. The glasses of wine were generous to a fault - although no-one offered us the advertised free glass of champagne for mothers - and my dessert (lemon chocolate cheesecake - lemon on a chocolatey base) was delicious. I could've done without the accompanying coulis though, and must remember to ask for it without next time. As for my mother, she ordered pannacotta - this is where she first had it. She wasn't as impressed this time with the strawberry one she was offered.
But all in all, service was terrific - despite the crowd - and the surroundings pleasant. The food was very tasty, but the portion sizes, as usual, far too large.
Finally, we had business in Ennis today, and decided to eat at The Grove. Carvery was over - which was lucky, my mother hates it - and we got the last booth by the wall. Curiously, a neighbour of ours seemed to be conducting official-looking business at the table next door, but wasn't inclined to discuss it with us. So our curiosity had to go unsatisfied.
There was a lot of noise from the adjoining section of the bar, where it turned out a 16th birthday party was in progress. It continued right through our visit, with servers passing in with trays of sandwiches and finger food, and constant replenishment of jugs of orange juice. Which does provide some excuse as to the extremely slow service we received. Still, I do think there's a lack of management somewhere if servers have time to wash cutlery and fold napkins while customers are waiting for menus.
I ultimately had the chicken in pepper sauce, which was on special but they actually do here quite often, and which I know is good. And my mother, of course, had the salmon. We also decided to have a side of garlic bread. We got our drinks quite fast.. and waited for our food. And waited, and waited, and waited. Coincidentally, it was just after my mother complained that the food finally arrived. Reminiscent of the bad old days here, when service was patchy at best - I hope they're not slipping back to that.
The chicken was excellent, as ever - as was the fish. And the lack of wilted parsley was appreciated. Don't go for the garlic bread though - they use those hard little bread rolls to make it, and once those are toasted, they go as hard as rocks. Inedible - I left nearly half. We had plenty of time, so decided to order dessert. We finally grabbed someone to get us a menu. She sullenly took our order, and to be fair, the desserts were lovely. I give their chocolate fudge cake a thumbs-up. I didn't leave a tip, though.
Back to The Abbey Tavern tomorrow, probably, and their wilted parsley. And back to London the day after, and the day after that I'm out on the town again, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher, Queen of Soho at the Leicester Square Theatre. It's a drag show, and sounds like a fun night. And was nearly sold out, so I booked..
On Saturday, we went to the Abbey Tavern as usual. Got about the last parking space - there had been a confirmation AND a wedding in the church across the road. Plus the regular Saturday crowd - they remarked, as we went in, that we'd arrived at just the right time; the crowd was beginning to leave. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood for this place, but what can you do? I had the steak, which was basically fine, if a bit tough. Hadn't the appetite to finish it. I also asked them out straight not to include salad, which I never eat. And boy, am I sick of the sprig of wilted parsley they always perch on top of every dish. Ah well, anyway it was, as I say, fine.
Yesterday (Mother's Day), my mother wanted to go to Flanagan's on the Lake, where we hadn't been in a while. So off we went, on what turned out to be an unusually nice day, and took the scenic lake drive. Again, we got the last parking space by the water - and when we went in, we saw why. It was packed! The narrow bar in the middle, where you enter, separates the two eating areas, and the corridor there includes a podium with one of those "Please wait to be seated" signs. There's a convenient, and comfortable, bench there, so there we sat until a nice (she turned out to be Polish) waiter got us the manager, who told us there'd be a 15-minute wait. We couldn't have got anywhere else in that time, so wait we did, and watched all the families out with their mothers.
The poor, frazzled manager pointed in our direction every time he dashed past - to remind himself, I think. And he really did his best to seat us as soon as ever he could. Handily, we were seated in the round tower section, which is a bit quieter and has good views. And our waiter (that Polish girl again) suggested that, instead of the table she'd been told to seat us at, we might like to take a wall table that was free, and surrounded by plush armchairs. Ok then, we said - she okayed it with the manager, and we sat there.
We didn't fancy the starters - so I just had chicken, my mother just salmon, and we ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms. They were out of the chicken special, so I had the a la carte coq au vin, which I've had before. It does surprise me how small their chickens always are. Still, it was extremely tasty, and the accompanying veg had been cooked with honey, by the taste. The mash was strangely bland, I thought. Still, my mother was happy with the taste of hers too, and we were both tastily and plentifully fed. Which is just as well, because the mushrooms we'd ordered - which we didn't have the appetite for - were dessicated and rather tasteless. The glasses of wine were generous to a fault - although no-one offered us the advertised free glass of champagne for mothers - and my dessert (lemon chocolate cheesecake - lemon on a chocolatey base) was delicious. I could've done without the accompanying coulis though, and must remember to ask for it without next time. As for my mother, she ordered pannacotta - this is where she first had it. She wasn't as impressed this time with the strawberry one she was offered.
But all in all, service was terrific - despite the crowd - and the surroundings pleasant. The food was very tasty, but the portion sizes, as usual, far too large.
Finally, we had business in Ennis today, and decided to eat at The Grove. Carvery was over - which was lucky, my mother hates it - and we got the last booth by the wall. Curiously, a neighbour of ours seemed to be conducting official-looking business at the table next door, but wasn't inclined to discuss it with us. So our curiosity had to go unsatisfied.
There was a lot of noise from the adjoining section of the bar, where it turned out a 16th birthday party was in progress. It continued right through our visit, with servers passing in with trays of sandwiches and finger food, and constant replenishment of jugs of orange juice. Which does provide some excuse as to the extremely slow service we received. Still, I do think there's a lack of management somewhere if servers have time to wash cutlery and fold napkins while customers are waiting for menus.
I ultimately had the chicken in pepper sauce, which was on special but they actually do here quite often, and which I know is good. And my mother, of course, had the salmon. We also decided to have a side of garlic bread. We got our drinks quite fast.. and waited for our food. And waited, and waited, and waited. Coincidentally, it was just after my mother complained that the food finally arrived. Reminiscent of the bad old days here, when service was patchy at best - I hope they're not slipping back to that.
The chicken was excellent, as ever - as was the fish. And the lack of wilted parsley was appreciated. Don't go for the garlic bread though - they use those hard little bread rolls to make it, and once those are toasted, they go as hard as rocks. Inedible - I left nearly half. We had plenty of time, so decided to order dessert. We finally grabbed someone to get us a menu. She sullenly took our order, and to be fair, the desserts were lovely. I give their chocolate fudge cake a thumbs-up. I didn't leave a tip, though.
Back to The Abbey Tavern tomorrow, probably, and their wilted parsley. And back to London the day after, and the day after that I'm out on the town again, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher, Queen of Soho at the Leicester Square Theatre. It's a drag show, and sounds like a fun night. And was nearly sold out, so I booked..
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