C.S Lewis said “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love
anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make
sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap
it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.
Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that
casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken;
it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be
vulnerable.”
Today’s
note is about my favourite restaurant in London, The Opera Tavern. I have now been to this restaurant more times
than any other in the city. Every time I go there, the food is excellent, the
drinks are excellent and everyone who works there is excellent- I will make a
special point of saying thanks to Phoebe here as she has always managed to seat
me.
Firstly
you can book, but only upstairs, downstairs doesn’t take any bookings. This is
perfect if like me one Friday evening at the beginning of September you haven’t
booked a table anywhere for your visiting parents. One of my colleagues at the
time told me not to worry, as there were plenty of places that wouldn’t require a
booking… Mcdonalds, KFC… Hilarious.
Just
before I started to panic, Annabel Dentatron turned to me and suggested The
Opera Tavern. So with that I rushed off to meet my parents at a pub next to Westminster. I found that they had befriended J.. M....... and his wife. We all had a lovely
conversation and a drink before I hurried them out and towards the Tavern. My
mother was clearly surprised that someone working for the Labour Party could be
such pleasant company, but I digress.
The
food is fresh and seasonal, which in this day and age really should be the
standard. The wine list is excellent (they have the soffocone di vincigliata)
and they have a good selection of sherry by the glass. We
munched on crispy Ibérico pigs’ ears with some gin and tonics before ordering
our food. The octopus was perfectly cooked. The salmon was delicious, the duck
was flawless, even the Glasgow salad (called patatas fritas) raised the bar.
In particular, my father who does not like eating birds even tried and enjoyed some of the pigeon salad. He then went on to say that it was the first time he had eating pigeon since 1961 and that the only reason he had eaten it then, was because he was a poor student living in Paris at the time and it was the cheapest item on the menu. He remembers that his meal took a long time to arrive and while he was waiting for it, he lost his appetite watching the pigeons in the square.
In particular, my father who does not like eating birds even tried and enjoyed some of the pigeon salad. He then went on to say that it was the first time he had eating pigeon since 1961 and that the only reason he had eaten it then, was because he was a poor student living in Paris at the time and it was the cheapest item on the menu. He remembers that his meal took a long time to arrive and while he was waiting for it, he lost his appetite watching the pigeons in the square.
But, this post is not really about politics, or birds, or octopodes, this is about the best burger in the
city. It is about a Miniature Ibérico Pork and Foie Gras Burger. It is
as staggeringly, as it is astonishingly delicious and I am sorry for my selfishness. What you imagine is what you get and I am quite certain that it is impossible to put
something more delicious in your mouth for £7.00.
Sometimes something is
so wonderful and so magical that you don’t want to share it. In fact you don’t
want anybody else to have any of the experience. All you want to do is lock
yourself in a caravan with it. However, I love the Opera Tavern and I want you
to love it too.
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