Oh ECK

We went for lunch at the English Country Kitchen in central Bordeaux. I'd noticed a while ago that the place did reasonably-priced roast dinners at the weekend so I phoned up and booked for our anniversary lunch. It was just a trifle surreal to phone and book a table at the English Country Kitchen in French, but hey... Roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and parsnips, green beans and carrots, mashed potatoes and just the right amount of gravy. You could also buy Bisto gravy granules at 5€ a tub.

When we got there we were seated by a friendly curly-haired waiter who took our order, all in French. "Where are you from?" he asked, in French.
"Pessac", I replied, as usual, "though I'm Welsh and my wife is English".
"Oh, I'm Irish", quoth he, stil in French.
"Oh, from where in Ireland?"
"Dublin." all the above conducted in French.

"Brunch" is a wildly popular thing in Bordeaux - and usually hugely expensive. The English Country Kitchen just got a good write-up in a national food thing for its brunches, and by the time we left the place people were queuing out of the door for a table. They do a full English breakfast, as well as toast etc.

I was a little scandalised to see a lady at a table just by us tucking into scones with jam and cream at mid-day. "That woman's taking afternoon tea at mid-day!" "Ssh, she probably doesn't know any better."


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