Friday 22 June 2012

My dinner with Adrian…….

Ever wondered what it’s like to dine out with AA Gill, food and TV critic at The Sunday Times, boyfriend of The Blonde, hobbnobber with the stars and Jeremy Clarkson? Well now I can tell you because I did. I say with but what I actually mean is at the table cosily next door to: AA Gill, The Blonde, Sir Michael Gambon and Philippa Hart, in an uber-ultra-uber-trendy restaurant especially created for the uber-ultra-uber-trendy. I was beside myself with joy, well actually I was beside Dumbledore, because I absolutely love AA Gill’s writing. I’m not that bothered by what he thinks but the way he thinks it makes me moan and gasp in hysterics most Sunday mornings, choking on my wholemeal sour dough toast and snorting latte from my nose. And I think Sir Michael is damn fine too, I’ve seen his Pinter.


Shrimpy’s is the latest love child from David Waddington and Pablo Flack, of Bistrotheque, and is housed in The Filling Station, quite literally an ex-petrol station, back of King’s Cross, over-looking the canal: a clutch of tables, bar stools at the bar, big windows, small menu, linen, silverware and glass; think Edward Hopper does The Stork Club. The food is sort-of-south-American and their signature dish is a Soft-Shell Crab Burger. And so my mate Nige and I filled up on salt cod croquettes, calamari, a mass of crunchy soft-shell crab and avocado in a bun, octopus and shoestring fries, where I once filled up with petrol. The thing is, so did AA Gill, The Blonde, Sir Michael Gambon and Philippa Hart, and let me tell you Adrian’s bun was bigger than mine.

“I can see where the other 7 legs went now.” remarked my mate Nige, as their order of octopus and potato arrived.

Because I was snuggled up next to Dumbledore on the banquet, and opposite Adrian, I could see straight through the rectangular window and into the kitchen where, behind AA's head, Tom Collins, the head chef and nowhere to be seen when we’d first arrived on this Monday night but now very much present and possibly air-lifted in when one of the soft-shell-shocked crew recognised who was in (I’m sure Gill's face along with every other critic’s is plastered in most restaurant kitchens) were amassing their food with due diligence in a flurry of fevered activity. Then me and my mate Nige sort of slipped off the radar and might well still be sat there now waiting for dessert menus if we hadn’t pleaded with a waitperson. We shared a chocolate brownie sundae and so did Adrian …… but not with us. It was delicious despite my mate Nige getting both bits of brownie. The service, when we got it, was charming and the bill is big even if the portions are not. Roll on Sunday, I can’t wait to see if we enjoyed our dinner…………

Top tip: fake summer........ turn the heating up high, ware flip-flops round the house and drink pink wine.........

16 comments:

  1. I have the heating on downstairs, have been wearing sandals since April, even in the puddles, and drinking pina colada from sundae glasses through neon bendy straws, but then I catch sight of the rivulets running down the windows and I realise I fooled no-one, not even myself.

    I now have SAD again. Sleeping ten hours a night. There doesn't seem to be any reason not to - midsummer, my arse!

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  2. Reading AA Gill's columns are my guilty pleasure! Guilty? - well I get the feeling, as he's a mate of Jeremy Clarkson et al, that he not exactly Mr Right on, more Mr Rightwing - but, as you say, he writes damn fine!! I shall look out for 'your' review!

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  3. Do tell....... do tell: is he as pretty in real life as his photos in the papers? (Sod the food, I just want to know......)

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  4. The shorts come on in march and come off in November. I suffer for my art, especially right now. It feels like November, but more wet..let me know if you enjoyed yourselves.

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  5. I've never read him. Reading the Sunday Times in Lancaster is to considered somewhat infra dig.

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  6. What a night out! A fancy London restaurant and AA Gill (Jeremy Clarkson might have spoiled it for me though!). You'll have to let me know if he liked it. xx

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  7. I'm dying to know what AA Gill thought of your dinner! What excitement.
    Totally with you on the fake summer, our heating's just turned itself on, must be cold. x

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  8. I have never heard of AA Gill--I'll have to see if his column is available online. Lucky you to get to sit next to Dumbledore!

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  9. I sat opposite James Bond once... The Timothy Dalton one and sadly not the Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan one (tho Timothy did play a good Mr Rochester once )

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  10. I don't think being adjacent to is quite the same as being with someone, in fact, as you have mentioned, service to other people can nose-dive when the "great" (naat) and the "good" (certainky naat!) are nearby...

    A A Gill can be droll, but he mostly needs to get his head out of his arse and to stop confusing being personally insulting with being witty...

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  11. One of the reasons for going to that kind of place is to soak up the ambience and rub shoulders with celebs. If the prices are high and the portions are small, thuogh, sounds like the kind of place it's worth sitting around OUTSIDE watching the people come and go ... rather than going INSIDE :D

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  12. Oh Pinter, Oh Gambon, Oh dry pink wine.

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  13. In my house he's now called A A Misogynist, but agree, he writes well, and his Desert Island Disc, talking of the disappearance of his brother was one of the most moving ones I've heard. It sounds like you had a divine dinner.

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  14. Shrimpy's looks fab. Though I'm vegetarian so will probably never go there. I travelled from the new King's Cross station the other day & that's fab too. I do like AA Gill.

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  15. I like AA Gill's writing..he's about as twisted and grouchy as I am..but the bastard's writing is funnier.

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