China Town
ASKED how political coalitions are formed, Germany’s chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, once shot back with a question of his own: “How do porcupines mate?” After a short pause, he then answered it with a grin: “Very slowly.”
Sorry I was just going through The Economist and came across that line, quite funny for a German politician I thought. It’s a Saturday morning and i’m wondering what to do this afternoon when I meet my friend and his girlfriend for lunch at Trafalgar Sq. I’d rather avoid a restaurant chain sort of place like pizza express or Nando’s (though Nando’s is a most reverred place ohm ohm) and would prefer a local place with a bit of character, something unique about it and of course good food. I guess it isn’t easy to find such places without snooping around yourself and accidentally coming across such a place. The other day in Camden town we came across a superb little Vietnamese place which I’d never have found on a website or tour guide. I’m also forever on the look out for little places that play live music in the evenings, a friendly cozy sort of place hidden away from the big loud clubs. Last night I explored Leicester Sq. to an extent and most of the places there are very hyped, loud and in your face clubs and night spots, not really my game. But China Town was nice, we went to a couple of places which being a Friday night were understandably full to the brim. At the first place they asked if we’re willing to share a large table with some strangers, we politely declined and buggered off. I wasn’t about to share a table with a bunch of boisterous smoking ppl. So we carried on, passing Mr. Wu’s restaurant, Mr. Tan’s, Uncle Yim’s etc. etc.. After much walking I thought screw that and we walked into the next restaurant we saw. We asked for a table and were promptly told to follow the waiter and without being asked he laid out the cutlery on a table where there were already 3 ppl! Anyway hunger had the final say so we stayed on without complaint. A fourth man joined our table and promptly planted a kiss on one of the other dude’s lips. His voice was initially very squeaky but it mellowed down as the evening wore along. Those two were very fond of one another, and they showed it. The other couple was an elderly gentleman, possibly 65ish with silver hair, and a youngish girl who I assumed was his daughter. She was well dressed so I figured it must be some sort of celebration. But quite soon the two of them were also kissing, fondling and what not. It was a totally new experience and after the initial amusement (and making a mental note to never bring a date here) we dug into our food that was quite decent. Spare ribs, pork in black bean sauce (haraam haraam!), mushrooms in chinese greens and squid with chillie and salt. I’ve never eaten squid in England before and i was most suspicious but it turned out like a bastardized version of Sri Lanka’s own cuttle fish in hot butter sauce! Nowhere near as good but decent in its own right. I managed to drink a whole pot of Chinese tea and I hope it compensated for some of the excessive quantities of cholestrol I consumed last night. Unfortunately my bladder and I are not quite on talking terms after that.
I quite like China town in London, I like the food and the atmosphere. The crowded streets remind me of Beijing but I think that’s more a psychological connection than anything else. The Crispy Duck Restaurant is a good bet if anyone ventures that way, try and avoid weekend nights bc it packs up big time. The last time I was there 8 ppl ate for 110 quid, consuming two starters, duck, chicken, pork, prawns and lobster! Nobody believes that it was so cheap but it was! After eating way too much we headed out to look at the rest of Leicester Sq. which wasn’t as crowded and buzzing as I last remember but it had great atmosphere nonetheless. I hadn’t noticed the hand marks of famous ppl who had come for openings at the Leicester Sq. Odeon, Hugh Grant has rather small hands, as does Colin Firth. Sir Richard Attenborough on the other hand has bigass hands. Stopped for some dessert at Garfunkel’s, some cake thing with a smallish scoop of vanilla ice cream. Les Miserables is showing at one of the Theatres in Leicester Sq. and that’s one on my long list that I need to start ticking off soon. I was tempted to stop for some coffee at one of the quaint Italian coffee joints but it was getting late, and with the Northen line totally buggered we weren’t too sure about the reliability of the replacement bus services to my side of town, so I headed home, quite tired and much too full for my liking.
