Asked again

About ten days ago we decided that it was time to visit ASK again, it being more than a couple of months since we last visited, as noticed at reference 1. A lunch time visit rather than an evening visit on this occasion.

The place was pretty busy, with just two waitresses to hold the floor, but I thought that they did pretty well.

Their bread basket was better than I remembered. And some of their pizzas have moved to a rectangular format, with a large supply of the necessary plates stacked up on the bar behind us. Some sort of composite of stony appearance. I did well with my pizza and BH did well with her salad. The same Saint Clair wine as we took in Brockenhurst, as noticed at reference 2.

BH settled for a coffee for dessert. I was impressed by the steady hand needed to decorate it as per the snap above - but she explained to me that it was done with a stencil. Place stencil on cup and shake chocolate dust on from a large pepper pot. No need for a steady hand at all.

For a change I opted for something called a Sicilian lemon tart, on which the menu designer had not been able to resist the now near mandatory drizzle. Not bad, but clearly a factory job; not quite the same as a home-made one might be. We pondered about the way that calling food Sicilian these days was supposed to justify a higher price, this despite the best known export of Sicily being the mafia. Perhaps all those Godfather films are to blame.

Probably wound up with a spot of Jameson, as on the previous occasion. Can't remember what, if anything, I did about tipping.

Lunch done, a quick turn around the nearby M&S and then we headed for home. I puzzled about the absence of the gibbous moon, which had been visible earlier in the week. And which did turn up later, at around 17:00 - when it was in the region of SSE and well above the houses. So it must have risen a bit beforehand, but maybe it was still in the trees when we first got home.

PS: the fingerprint in the pizza snap for a while being the first for a while. Used to happen much more often.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/an-evening-out.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/10/hunting-times.html.