Table for ONE…

Firstly, this is not a dig at a person. I knew there was a possibility I would be eating alone on Saturday night. I booked the table for one, but mentioned a possibility for two in the notes.

I got a call Friday afternoon, from the place in question to be named later.

“This booking is for one.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Table for ONE.”

“Yes.”

“ONE”

“yes”

OK, I think they stopped at the second one. It still felt like the loneliest dinner reservation I have ever made. Just so you know, I eat out alone a lot. I love eating alone. I love eating with company too. Somehow, though, I felt like there was a hint of annoyance this time. Like they were trying to urge me to make the second person a reality.

One.

One for the Spice Den.

I caught an uber to the location. The driver had never heard of it. The GPS was telling him to go down a side street. After a brief exchange about where it could be, he dropped me off right in front of it, without realising it.

I was just under 15 minutes early so I went for a walk up the street and back, and walked in 5 minutes early.

I sat down to a relatively empty restaurant, which filled up almost completely within half an hour.

I am glad I made a booking. I watched people who hadn’t get turned away.

Now

On to the food.

A quick look at the menu and it becomes obvious this is a collection of dishes from various countries, mostly Asian. After searching through the menu for an entree, not that hard mind you, I looked for the first thing i try at every new restaurant. Duck. There was duck, and I shall get to it soon.

To start with I had sashimi White Fish.There may have been other words with it. What came out was a plate with six pieces of fish, swordfish, covered in lime and pepper. For those of you who have tried, or plan on trying sword fish, or any white fish for that matter, and would like to taste the actual subtle flavours of the fish, LAY OFF THE PEPPER AND LIME. Don’t get me wrong, this was a great idea for a dish. A little lime and pepper (or chilli) go really well with the delicate flavours of white fish. That is an important word to remember, delicate. On the few pieces I managed to tip some of the pepper and lime off of, it was delicious though.

I followed this with  Half Peking Duck, or Peking Half Duck or Peking Duck Half or can you tell I have not been looking at the menu of the place for this. Not the full Peking duck experience, mind you, just half a roast duck with buk choy and hoisin sauce. It was actually pretty good. Oh and there were bits of mandarin with it, which made the whole thing really tasty. The duck itself was cooked really well, and even on its own had a slight citrusy tang to it. The only thing is, there is not much more to write about this dish. It was pretty good though.

Finally I had Mango and Mascarpone Crumble for dessert. This was also a subtle dish, the mangos were frozen (which I think was deliberate), which meant they had lost some of the strong mango flavour. This worked out well for the dish though, and on a warm night it was really nice to finish with. I only managed to get a few mouthfuls that were all three of the components. It wasn’t a taste explosion, it was a lovely cooling taste slap??? Oh, taste caress that was a great finish to the meal.

On that note, leaving you with the thought of a taste caress, i shall be off. Eat well and I shall write again soon.