Christmas in July

For Christmas last year, my sister gave my wife and I a "show and dinner" package. Finally, last weekend we went up to London for the day to finally partake of her present.


We started with lunch at El Cantara, a Spanish/Moroccan restaurant near Shaftesbury Avenue in Frith Street. We arrived around 2.30pm and were the only people in the place. The welcome and service was very friendly and we sat at a table where we could watch the rest of the world go by out of the window.

We chose a couple of dishes to start, Zaalouk which was smoked aubergine with mixed spices, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, and Piquillo de Patatas which was a baby pepper stuffed with a potato and carrot purée. We had some Moroccan bread to accompany them, and it was all really tasty. For main course I had a vegetable tagine, accompanied by a really good bowl of couscous, flavoured with cinnamon. There was just one thing that annoyed me. Service was included on the bill and yet the credit card machine still offered us the chance to add a tip. What's more, the waiter asked if we wanted to add a tip when he handed me the machine to which I politely pointed out that he'd already included it on the bill.

From there we made our way to Covent Garden and to the theatre to watch the Woman in Black. It's a great play and the tiny size of the Fortune Theatre makes it more spooky.

Once the play had finished we made our way to Maxwell's which was the restaurant where we were to enjoy the meal that came along with the theatre in our present. It's a burger and grill bar and, to be honest, I quite fancied a burger and fries to finish the day off.

When we arrived, we splashed out on a cocktail each and I ordered potato skins for starters. I was brought ones with bacon, but these were replaced without fuss when I pointed out the error. My wife had crab cakes, which she enjoyed.

For the main course we both had burgers; I had a spicy bean burger, my wife had a meat one. Both came with salad and fries and we both enjoyed them. We were both too full for dessert, so we ordered the bill. We both enjoyed the meal and the service was friendly and very prompt. It's a great place for a pre or post theatre meal if you want something quick, simple and reasonably tasty.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable day. Thanks Sis, and Happy Christmas!