14 September 2011

Baldwins

The best lunch I ever had was in 2002 at Mrs Wilkes's Boarding House in Savannah, Georgia but yesterday's fayre at our local Baldwins Omega restaurant was not far behind. The basic cost was only £13.50 for a lovely three course meal but adding wine, pre-lunch drinks, coffee and a healthy tip did bump up the price.

I know that most bloggers exist on water, stale bread and mouldy cheese so imagine this:-

TO START YOU OFF:
CHEFS APPETISER OF THE DAY, CRUDITIES,
OUR FRESHLY BAKED BREAD & A JUG OF ICED WATER

A CHOICE OF STARTERS

ROAST BUTTERNUT SQUASH & COURGETTE SOUP
Fresh Soup made in our Kitchens with Chive Cream

SMOKED MACKEREL SALAD
Marinated Tomato & Onion Salad with
Smoked Mackerel & Sour Cream & Chives

MELON & AUTUMN BERRIES
Ripe Melon with Autumn Berries

CHOICE OF MAIN COURSES

SLOW COOKED SHOULDER OF LAMB
With Seasoned Yorkshire Pudding & Lamb Jus

ST ANDREWS SALMON & CHIVE FISHCAKE
With Chips, Garden Peas & Sauce Doria

AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA
A Classic dish of Grilled Aubergines, Tomatoes, Shallots - Baked in the Oven and Topped with Parmesan Gratinee

CHOICE OF DESSERT FROM THE A LA CARTE DESSERT MENU

- I chose home-made profiteroles with strawberries and hot chocolate sauce

TO ROUND OFF YOUR LUNCH
MAY WE SUGGEST OUR COFFEE MENU

FRESH FILTER COFFEE
BOTTOMLESS POT
£2.25

NESPRESSO COFFEES
£2.60 PER CUP

CAPPUCCINO, LATTE, ESPRESSO & AMERICANO
ALSO AVAILABLE IN DECAFFINATED

Frances worked at Baldwins as a silver service waitress from the age of fourteen and we have known the bar manager, Jamie since she was a baby. In fact he used to babysit for us when he was a teenager. We

also knew all of yesterday's waiting staff and we were honoured to have the owner - Mr David Baldwin in the luncheon room too but he's looking unwell these days and has lost a good deal of weight.

Our old friends - John and Irene - enjoyed the lunch as much as we did. Afterwards they came back to our house for a cup of tea. It's so nice to have friends you can talk to without uncomfortable pauses or any sense that there may be a current of judgmentalism swirling quietly and insidiously between the lines. And of course our special lunch marked and celebrated Shirley's new status as a Master of Science!

By the way - just in case you were wondering - the seasoned Yorkshire Pudding was of course delightful and much appreciated by all the other diners in the sunny luncheon room!

8 comments:

  1. I make eggplant parmigiana frequently. I't's lovely with stale bread and water. I'll make sure I make it when you come over.

    Congratulations Shirley! Good on yer!

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  2. An expensive lunch! What must be the prices in the evening?

    Thank you, milord, for letting this poor wretch of a serf live vicariously through the pages of your blog.

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  3. It all sounds delightful... and much cheaper than you could possibly get anything here.
    A fitting celebration to a great achievement.
    Cheers

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  4. Sounds lovely. There's nothing more pleasant than relaxing over a meal with good friends.

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  5. KATHERINE Looking forward to it...IF we make it to NZ in January. Family matters.
    RHYMES WITH MISER All in, it was twenty eight dollars each. Doesn't seem excessive to me but I grant you more than the Subway specials in Canton.
    HELEN Next time you're in the motherland we'll see you and Tony in Baldwin's for lunch. You can bring the table runners I have ordered.
    JENNY Relaxing over the meal. You don't mean lying on top of it do you?

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  6. I went years ago
    cant remember if it was good or not
    sounds brill now though

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds delicious, but I am confused over the bar manager's sexuality who you've known since 'she was a baby' and that 'he used to babysit' for you.

    Must be all those hormones in the Yorkshire water supply!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A response to the if: Well, I hope the matters can be resolved YP so you and Shirley can still come over - sometime, anyway!

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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