Lock stock and two smoking pints

 

We were in London this weekend celebrating my Daughter's birthday, even though it rained for most of it that didn't dampen our spirits. Having spent the last couple of birthdays during Covid lockdowns she was happy to have a normal anniversary for a change! During the day we took her to a restaurant in Soho for lunch, a totally vegan affair (she's a vegan) which was a first for me, of course I've had many vegan and vegetarian dishes over the years, but seldom an entire vegan meal in a restaurant! It was delicious, lot's of spicy dishes, beans, seeds and breads with plenty of roasted vegetables, like cauliflower, which is one of my favourites when done well. Anyway, after lunch we had a walk around and did some light window shopping, now that she's living away from home it was nice spending time together and catching up on stuff.

The sprog was out with friends in the evening so my Wife and I decided to head up to Fitzrovia and try a gastro-pub called "The Lore of The Land", it's been around for a few years now but we'd never been. It's owned by film director Guy Richie who also owns the brewery that supplies the beer, I'd never tried any of his brews before so it was a treat to sample the "Gritchie" ales on offer. I had a couple of pints at the bar before heading up to the first floor restaurant area but the "Galaxy NEIPA" was the stand-out, Galaxy is one of my favourite hops and the beer was very modern in style and well made. The food was good and we had a nice Cru Bourgeois (Medoc) to go with a couple of bavette steaks although I would argue that the beer was good enough to make the pub a great post-work pint destination on it's own.

The next morning after breakfast we had a walk through the windy streets of the City before catching the train home, it's amazing how the City empties out at the weekend, all those steel and glass towers with no one in sight, imagine all those gas bills! Anyway, after a brisk 5 km loop we headed back to Waterloo and the shuttle back to the home counties, a thoroughly decent weekend, some nice memories in the bank!