Monday, January 22, 2007

A "good" weekend

I finally finished House of Stone by Christina Lamb and I thoroughly enjoyed it- it's a very interesting account of the recent history of Zimbabwe seen through the eyes of Aquinata, a black domestic maid and Nigel her white employer, and is written in a very readable style. The whole Zimbabwe story is intriguing not least the metamorphoses of "Bob" Mugabe.....but that's the subject for another day's blog....

I had a good weekend- strolling through Leicester Square I saw the barriers going up for the premiere of Dreamgirls starring Beyonce and Eddie Murphy. I've often strolled through Lecicester Square in the hours before a movie premiere, but yesterday for the first time a fleeting thought that I ought perhaps to join the few fans slowly gathering in front of the Odeon Leicester Square wound its way through my head- fortunately the feeling passed...

Headed to Angies, arguably the most upmarket Nigerian restaurant in London for their Sunday buffet lunch. Not only do they offer good Nigerian food in a clean restaurant that avoids the cliched plastic flowers and plastic tablecloths of many of its competitors, but they also provide good service- the waitress was quietly solicitous without being obtrusive- bringing a bowl of washing up water when one of our party started on his pounded yam and generally making sure that we got whatever help we wanted even before we asked. With the music of Yinka Ayefele softly playing in the background, the spread of jollof rice, fried rice (the Naija version), fried plantains, two choices of stew (complete with chicken, beef and cowleg) , egusi and pounded yam made for a pleasing alternative to an English Sunday lunch. They even have a website and a takeaway and delivery service and you can apparently even order online
http://www.angies-restaurant.co.uk/ . While there I heard from another customer that Yellow Chili, the Lagos restaurant that's making waves is set to open in London- bring it on I say....

On Friday I stumbled across a Nigerian story on The Smoking Gun- the website that exposed author James Frey's lies. My first instinct was to blog on it bagging a Nigerian blogworld exclusive :-) but on second thoughts I sanctimoniously decided not to because I felt it would be hurtful . In any case, by the end of the weekend, others- journalists and websites had picked up on it but I couldn't help feeling a little pleased with myself for my self restraint- how sad is that?

I guess I'm just not cut out to be a tabloid journalist, there goes my chance of the big bucks....

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good you had a nice weekend and its monday already. The weekend just flies by like that and its always nice to make the most of it.Angie's sounds like a nice restaurant from your review shame its quite a distance from where i stay but i'll still make do with the likes of obalende, 805 close to my vicinity.Have a nice week!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the information about Angies, I am visiting London in the weekend and I probably make a beeline for that restaurant.

I was not that impressed with Obalende when I visited in August but I was suitably impressed with 805 which I reviewed in December.

ayoke said...

Hmm! For the love of food... Where is food where I am? I should start searching.

Admin said...

Well feels great to hear that, i was on business trip to London and had my dinner at different restaurant out there, the food was really very nice. I am really thankful to Lacartes
for providing me the best restaurant guide in london.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed Angies as well, I liked 805 but since Eko Restaurant opened in Hackney that's where I go now, it's a bit pricey but well worth it.

Mark Benson said...

Want to learn about the Zimbabwean history, I recommend you get on a flight to Harare, the capital of this African gem in order to get fully educated and informed about the historic events the nation carries along.