London In A Few Weeks - Food Diary Part 1

So as we don't have much longer in London, we've begun an All-You-Can-Eat lasting a few weeks, where we revisit all our favourite places in London, while trying out some new places which we reckon we can't find abroad. To help me keep track of where we've been, this is a listing of where we've been to.

Sunday 30th October:

Came back from Wiltshire and by the time we battled traffic and that, it was nearly 2pm by the time we got back to London. As were were going to have dim sum anyway, headed off to Yi-Ban and arrived there about 2.15pm. Queue was ever present and just as long - shock. Anyway, found the nice lady who hands out the seat numbers, and she mentioned something about how they were rushing to set up tables for a wedding to be held later in the day, so if we could finish our meal within an hour, then we had a table immediately. I said, if she was going to give us a table immediately, we'd finish the meal in half an hour so it was a Table Success. Ordered the usual, packed some away, and was finished by about 3pm (slightly over half an hour). On the way out, I casually asked the waiter if the wedding dinner was due to start at around 7-ish that evening, and if that was why they were rushing around. He said, no, it was due to start around 4pm.

Monday 31st October:

Friend's b'day so we had dinner at Vivat Bacchus by London Bridge. When TC and I walked in, we saw a table which looked like it had been set up for about 15 people (which happened to be the number of people in our group) so I casually asked, "Oh, it looks like that might be our table, we're here for so-and-so and are booked for 7.30pm."

The maitre d' or whatever his role was looked back at me in what I could only describe as a cool, not-bothered look, and said 'No.'

So I said the name again, and the time again, and he said 'No.' Then proceeded almost a guessing game of where we were to be seated, at which point I kinda lost it a little and just said, "We'll come back when everyone is here." I was gonna spend some dosh there and have some drinks before dinner, but thanks to the 20-questions man, we didn't do that.

Said man was then in charge of waiting on our table for the entire night. We were put downstairs, and aside from another table of 2 women, were the only people put in the basement level. Fair enough - large group, so why not. Thing is, there was only one guy (THAT guy) serving us all night - both drinks, food, everything. So, things took their time, a lot of time, and by the time we were done with the just-average food and below-average service, I'd pretty much concluded that I was never going back to this place again.

Tuesday 1st November:

Felt a little ill from the change in weather, so aside from the usual pre-requisite Itsu lunch, we had a takeaway from Peninsula Chinese Restaurant. Ordered the usual, tried and tested favourites of Beef with English Broccoli (that is the name on the menu, but it's much nicer than that), and the Stir-fried Cuttlefish with XO sauce. Side order of a portion of Egg Fried Rice. Fab meal, saved on the tea felt very full after that.

Wednesday 2nd November:

Searched around during the day for some GBK vouchers and found a few (40% and 2-burgers-for-£12). Had the usual Itsu Vegetable Detox Potsu for lunch and some nice bread thing from Spianata. Was hungry again around 4pm so bought another Itsu on the way back, and then snacked on some Jack Links Beef Jerky and green pandan mochi. Was hungry again by 6pm (what is wrong with me) so when we went for dinner at GBK, I ordered the Bacon and Avocado Burger (no bun) while the husband ordered a Wellington Burger - shared a portion of fries. Nice dinner in a place which is quite consistent - all in all, pleasing.

Thursday 3rd November:

Husband's leaving do for his workmates, and I've been told that the place only serves pizzas and as I don't fancy wasting precious calorie space with pizza, I might have some more Itsu before heading out.

TBC ...