Veggie sandwich special of the week

at Pret is egg mayonaisse, baby spinach and sun dried/blushed/tickled tomatoes, on granary bread. Lovely, creamy egg mayo, tangy tomatoes and spinach was fresh. Egg has a tendency to flop out and tomatoes drop onto your lap so tuck in a napkin!

An Endangered Restaurant

Valentine's dinner at the Neal Street restaurant on...Neal street. It is basically the posh flagship restaurant of the Carluccio chain. And when I say posh I mean that it is also expensive (over £40 a head) but very delicious food - Italian meat, fish and pasta with the most enourmous olives you will have ever seen and the oiliest, saltiest bread, yum. Anyway, we had a great dinner, service was excellent and not too sickeningly Valentine-ish. The main point being, if I could get to it, that the restaurant is closing on March 17th due to the building being redeveloped, so if you want to spend some money and eat some good Italian food in smart surroundings, do it quickly (and eat a smalllunch as it is very filling). Ah yes also it is particularly famous for its mushrooms, so if you are a funghi fan then you really had better go before it shuts.

Going to Borough Market

is very crowded and also very expensive but somehow it doesn't seem to matter if you pay £7 for dried figs, you can convince yourself they are the best dried figs you have ever eaten, and perhaps they are. The food all looks delicious as you glimpse it through the throng and there are so many free samples you can almost cobble together a free lunch, starter, main course and a variety of desserts, albeit all in tiny morsels. Best days, ie more food and more people, are Friday and Saturday, still going strong at 4pm.