An expensive lesson

The Gate Restaurant of Hammersmith

How much would you pay for a meal? When dining out in a fancy restaurant, do you set yourself a budget or do you sometimes allow yourself to splurge on fine food?

If you don’t mind distributing your wealth now and again, I have some advice for you. Think twice before distributing it to The Gate Restaurant, a vegetarian eatery located in Hammersmith, London. I am going to be blunt and brief. I found it to be over-priced, over-dependent on dairy and severely lacking in vegan options.

The restaurant itself is rather pleasant, if a bit grubby. My seat afforded me a lovely view across the restaurant to the massive feature window. Unfortunately I was also next to a wall that was riddled with bizarre scuff marks and scratches. I’m not above eating in a venue with a bad paint job, but after viewing the prices on the menu I would expect The Gate Restaurant to splash out on a lick of paint now and again.

Speaking of prices, I have never paid so much money for such unexciting, unadventurous and downright dull food.

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‘Til I’m fit to burst

What will you travel long distances for?

Some people will sit on a train for hours just to take in the wonders of an art gallery at the other end. Individuals will fly half way around the globe to spend time with loved ones. What does a FGV make the effort for? Music and food, of course.

Martin Rossiter back in the (blurred) spotlight

It was these two top hobbies of eating and listening that resulted in me traveling to Brighton last week. Gene, one of my favourite bands of all time, disbanded many years ago and their former lead singer is only now returning to organised solo performing. Martin Rossiter was booked to appear at the Brighton Unitarian Church and I just had to be there. Josh and I packed up the car and made haste to the iconic seaside town.

We arrived to our destination with several hours to spare, so of course we hunted down the nearest food outlet serving vegan dishes. The Brighton Loving Hut supplied us with a feast consisting of a fry up, burger, chips and vegan candy.

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