Well, sunny and into the mid teens. That’s more like it. Between our Road of Victorian houses and Kilburn High Road there is Kingsgate Primary School with a sign outside proudly proclaiming that it has been rated outstanding in its Ofsted inspections. We pass it as the students are leaving for the day with mums and baby brothers or sisters meeting them and the lollipop lady guiding them across the road.
We’re not far from Roses, one of our all time favourite restaurants, but a little wary of its efforts to move up in the world, discarding the checked plastic tablecloths and the chalkboard menus and describing itself as a bistro. It was once so thoroughly workingman’s café (in the days when that was pronounced caff. Printed menus now, and the coronary special breakfasts have been replaced with offerings such as avocado on toast - though in fairness I think you can still have as many fried eggs as a labourer might want.
We’re here for fish and chips. Cod - and yes the price has gone up but hasn’t everything - but for the same price you could have salmon or trout and the time I ordered salmon it was very nice. When it arrives our first response - to each other, not the nice young waitress - is that something is wrong. It’s not the way it used to be. Slowly we realise that mostly it is. The fish fillets are enormous and nicely breaded, beautifully cooked. The peas are fine. The chips are plentiful but they’re not hand cut. Presumably frozen. And surely they used to be called chips and not fries on the old chalkboard menu - not that it would matter if they were hand cut crisp edged chips. What do I tell the boss if he asks how we liked it? And he might. We’ve been coming here for years. He remembers us - just came over to shake hands when we came in. But you don’t go over to the corner by the kitchen to pay any more, where the girl added up and you threw the tip in a little bowl. She brings the bill to the table. It’s professional. And just a little sad.
But dessert isn’t sad. Pick up a reasonably superior sticky toffee pudding and a carton of custard at Aldi, and press the microwave into service. Very nice.
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| ROSES IN DAYS GONE BY |
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