Every month we award a bottle of Glengoyne 10 year old single malt – the finest whisky available to humanity – to a commenter who tickles our fancy…
Dabblers are by their very nature nonconformist, and like Heraclitus they also know that there is nothing immutable, except the need for change…Which is why we feel no guilt whatsoever in spontaneously disregarding our own rules and awarding this month’s glowing golden bottle of Glengoyne whisky to a post and a series of comments, rather than the usual one comment alone. Step forward Luke Honey, your review of the Gasworks restaurant and subsequent commenting follow up was an exemplary display of totalblogging. Amongst many topics raised along the way we managed to discuss London gangsters, James Fox, Princess Margaret and Avocados. Our favourite comment had to be this one:
I first went to The Gasworks in the mid 80′s, so the food there was still very much a last gasp relic of The Prawn Cocktail Years. Yet, somehow, the place- for me at least- represented that old London which has now been eroded by American bankers, chain shops, shopping malls and cleaner streets. Chelsea ain’t what it used to be. London pub gardens used to smell of wet soot and tea-leaves. I’m not sure that they do now.
I do seem to remmber Jack and Shells serving “Black Forest Gateau with UHT” there. The food was darn awful, but quite often “good” food is only one of the many reasons to visit a restaurant, don’t you find?
Your prize is in the post Luke, we hope you enjoy it!
“Wet soot and tea leaves”. Good that.
It is a shame that Chelsea is now so boring. It’s probably true of most parts of West London.
Easy Gaw. I’ll admit that the Royal Borough lacks the edgy diversity of North London, but it has its compensations: clean streets; a lack of random violence; a shortage of take-aways; parks; cultural diversions; excellent transport links; boring old farts like me, who are more than happy to no longer be living off the Essex Rd.
I thought I might rattle a gilded cage or two! Essex Road is, of course, a demi-paradise.
What a surprise! Didn’t see that one coming. Many thanks indeed, Dabblers. Yes, I’m afraid that SW3 is no longer what it used to be. South Ken, though, I think still has that certain je ne sais quois: The Polish Club, Daquise, the marvellous bookshop, “Thrift”, that fishing tackle shop…Remember that bit in Polanski’s “Repulsion”, when Catherine Deneuve wanders, deluded, around the entrance to the South Ken tube station…it more or less looks the same…I think…
That’s more like it Luke, you’re almost making it sound sexy round here.