20190913 Midnight Spaghetti and Steven ter Horst

The weather is definately getting warmer - it reached 24 degrees although the mornings are still nippy. Stephen and I had dramas at the Toastmasters club this week becuase of an altercation between 2 members. Little did we know that the altercations wouldn't end there.

The usual spot - the Elephant back booth. Richard, Con, Stephen and myself. Stephen picked up Albert from home and dropped him off outside so he didn't have to walk.

Albert was told today that he was going to be let go from work. Obviously, upsetting news. He left at around 7pm in anger about something. Not sure what caused it, but he left the pub and sent Stephen a text to cancel the clean up at his place on Sunday.

Richard ate at the Elephant - chicken salad. He said that the vegetables weren't cooked enough. There was a lot of spinach in his salad.

Richard left to go to a concert - the Birds of Tokyo with family. That left Con, Stephen and me. It was Stephen's turn to choose tonight and he had already booked at Midnight Spaghetti - the upstairs restaurant at the Crown and Anchor. We were supposed to be there by 7.30 and they rang Stephen at 7.50 to see where we were. Stephen finished up his drink and we headed over there.

We passed the outside of the pub, which was very grungy. We walked into the downstairs pub area and it smelled of sweat and beer. Not a good sign. I had to ask one of the barmen where the restaurant was because we couldn't see a set of stairs. He led us through a passageway and pointed out the stairs for us.

Well, we weren't expecting what we came across. Upstairs was a vibrant, buzzy restaurant with a great atmosphere. We were led out onto the balcony that was very reminiscant of Brklyn and the Exeter. It had small fairy lights and had plastic sheeting to protect from the wind. It was very lovely. I saw my manager's manager, Wayne with Richard the assessor at the next table. He said hello and left shortly afterwards.

The menu is very simple. Not too many choices. Con and I had the Midnight Spaghetti and Stephen had the Ragu spaghetti. Stephen and I also shared a bowl of spuds in creamy sauce. Lovely. They served complimentary olive bread and 3 dips - parmasen, chilli and oil. All very nice.




Stephen gave his meal an 8. Me a 7 1/2 and Con a 7. A success I think. It was totally different from what we imagined it would be. Much nicer than the grubby exterior below.

We went to Steven ter Horst for hot chocolate. Stephen had a mug and me and Con and a cup of hot chocolate. We talked about the idea of misunderstandings and conflicts and thought that this week was definitely one to put behind us.

We gave Con a lift home.