Restaurant: Bill's & Pub: The Blues Kitchen

Yesterday, our boss suggested a (very) long lunch, for which I suggested Bill's - didn't matter, as long as we got out of the office for a while! Well, they didn't have a better suggestion - and it isn't far from the office, but still afforded a different setting. Just for a change. So off we headed there - no booking, which was just as well as we ended up leaving a little late. No booking was required though - I'd checked the website.

We meandered our way through to Hoxton Square, where it was easy to find on the corner. Steps up, and hardly any of the tables inside were occupied - we took one by the window. Rustic tables, with slightly uneven wooden boards - but it's a pleasant place. Friendly service, an à la carte, and a set menu.

I decided to have the minute steak - generally a safe option. One of my companions had a burger, the other wasn't too hungry and just went for a portion of olives and sweet potato fries. A very decent house white for me, beer for the lads. And I've gotta say, it was all excellent. Very tasty steak - I didn't need to order sauce, as it came with a big pat of garlic butter and was tasty enough without. Cooked to perfection, with pre-salted fries. I was the only one who went for dessert - which was a curious thing; the "chocolate bombe" is a chocolate dome that covers vanilla, chocolate and honeycomb ice cream, and comes with salted caramel sauce. Which she offered to pour for me(!). The bombe is served in one of the same buckets that the fries come in - and you need the long spoon you get, as the dessert sinks down into the bed of cream as you try to take spoonfuls. Anyway, it all jumbles up in the bottom, in a very moreish mess.

We enjoyed our meal, and were pleased at the price. Particularly as the boss paid! :-) We noted that you can also buy stuff at Bill's - they seem to produce jams, marmalades, chocolate, tea, and pink lemonade to take away.

Afterwards, I had this idea of visiting interesting places I'd seen on a walk around the area. Sadly, I couldn't remember where any of them were - probably just around some corner or other. So we just moseyed off to the pub - ending up in The Blues Kitchen. A nice, dark, cosy escape from the day, it has good blues on the soundtrack, a good vibe, plenty of seating, interesting taps, and an impressive range of whiskies:

I drank a fair bit, but did manage to weave my way home without falling over. Way too tired last night to blog, though! Both venues recommended for a day away from care.

Tonight - at last, back with London Literary Walks! for the Lincoln's Inn Walk. I feel a bit guilty, having missed his last two for the Camden Fringe - blame Up in the Cheap Seats! Now, I cancelled a meal with Let's Do This for this walk - ironically, I see that Mary took my place on it.. ah, this Meetup inter-group competitiveness!

Tomorrow, I'm with Walking in London again, for The Summer Ghost Walk, which I cancelled earlier in the month. Handily, I got a loyalty discount for this, which knocked nearly half the price off! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

And next week starts with two trips with North London Friends. On Monday, we're off to Hampstead Theatre for The Humans. Front row, cool!

And on Tuesday, we're seeing The Aristocrats - by Brian Friel - at Donmar Warehouse. Now, initially, I didn't book anything for this night, what with another late-night work meeting planned. Forgot about that when I was booking this, next time I looked - but sod it, the last late-night work meeting didn't even happen, and I'm sick of them just blithely assuming we'll work after hours.