Il Bordello

I l Bordello is an Italian in wapping high street. It's name obviously refers to a whorehouse but it's interior does not really reflect this, unless it is a reference to the generosity of the portions! The food here is large, heaving with garlic and delicious. It is not high end or delicate but home cooked, old fashioned I talian, the extensive Pizza list does not contain goats cheese for example. It is medium priced, about £20 a head, but I would recommend skipping starters and pudding, leaving room fo rthe vast mains. Olives are good, again a generous amount and will do as a starter, they are served prawn cocktail in an ice cream sundae glass with cocktail stick with frilly bits of paper adroning them. They are also laced with garlic. I love this restaurant, but so do amny others so it is advisable to book, it also means that it is generally a fairly noisy, buzzy place, not necessarily the place for an intimate conversation. I generally find the waiters spectacularly grumpy but somehow it adds to the charm, which is not my usual angle on grumpy waiters, the warm adn lively atmosphere must somehow make up for it. Another tip, generally when I go here I have garlic leaking from every pore for several days afterwards so don't go with on a first date or when you may have to impress someone the next day.

Bermondsey Kitchen

Bermondsey Kitchen is a restaurant, not surprisingly, in Bermondsey street. It is our local which is a blessing and a curse, mainly because it is so good but not cheap. Starters are around £6 and mains from £10 to £15 with excellent puddings at £6. The food is fantastic, often tasting so much better than it sounds on the page, a tabbouleh with toasted flat bread tasted sublime, with lots of fresh lemon and slivers of crispy, toasted flatbread buried in the tabbouleh. They generally have two vegetarian options all of which have been of high quality. We went there once and had home made raspberry ripple for pudding, somehting that my husband still talks and dreams about but which we have sadly not come across again. The waiters are friendly, the atmosphere warm and relaxing and the winelist good and in line with the food prices. A fantastic local restaurant and if I had to choose I would say that it just pips the Garrison in terms of food quality if not in decor.

De Gustibus

De Gustibus is a breadshop in borough market, although breadshop is a little prosaic for such a place, they describe themselves as artisan bread makers, and so they are. I just bought a granary loaf there (yes it cost £2.50 but I have gone over the expensive bread threshold and there is no going back) and it smells and looks so delicious that I am already looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast. They specialise in bread as you would expect but they also had some very good looking sandwiches there and some hugely tempting chocolate brownies...next time.

Joan as Policewoman

So we went to see Joan as Policewoman at the Shepherds bush Empire. And on a week night too. The EMpire is faded and but comforting and we always go up to the first tier so that we can go and sit down, particularly as Joan is not a moshing kind of girl. The first support act, Loney Deer, were from Sweden and were pretty good in a spangly sort of way, the second, whose name I think was Andrew Bird was not so good. He was interesting though, which can be a bit of a curse. He played many instruments and then somehow sampled them all together, layering them one on top of the other. This sounds quite good and it was to start with but it all began to feel a bit like bedroom experimentalism (if you see what I mean) and a tad dull. Then came Joan. She looked fab in a silver jumpsuit type outfit and hair all tousled like Chrissie Hynde but prettier. She was particularly strong on audience banter which gave it a good atmosphere, although there was a little pocket of people chatting at the back which was distracting, but not as distracting as the poeple 'ssshh'ing them. Her voice is superb; strong and with a good range, she sings likes she means it. The only slight negative was that the songs are uneven, and I found this on her album too. Someof them start promisingly and then meander a little or go on too long, although Eternal Flame is a real crowd pleaser. All in all it was pretty good, mainly because of her charisma and voice, but the songs themselves would not send me running to listen to more, which is a shame.