Indecision

To celebrate the end of the kitchen refit, we thought we would eat out, perhaps in Epsom. For some reason, I was hankering after a biryani, something I do not seem to have eaten for quite a while. I suppose it is all part of my fondness for bulky food like bread (of various sorts), stews and soups.

BH would have preferred to go to the Italian flavoured ASK, but was content to go along with biryani and after a bit of poking around we settled on Khan of Upper High Street. Which, given that we have probably not been in an Indian restaurant for years, we have probably not visited before - despite their having a name for going easy on the butter and oil.

To start I thought the bar in Ebbisham Square, which we learned, while still part of the Stonegate family (last noticed at reference 2), had moved from the 'Slug & Lettuce' brand to the 'Be at One' brand. A place at which we had eaten occasionally in the past, an option not available with the new brand, which has more of a club, night-spot ambience - which meant that, despite the early hour, there were already a few groups of young girls getting cranked up for a Friday night out.

On the way, we had come across the first cowslips of the season, probably planted rather than accidentals, by the side of the main shed of the tennis club on the northern fringe of Court Recreation Ground. Snapped above.

While once there, we puzzled about whether the floor was made of lengths of timber or rolls of linoleum. Whatever it was, it extended beyond the main drag into the various byways and corridors. I failed to find any of the joins one would expect with linoleum and decided, rather against my better judgement, that it was timber. Which I would have thought would have been rather expensive to lay. I thought it predated the present staff, so no point in asking them.

But we did think back to the days, perhaps twenty five years ago now, when the place was heaving with very young people on Friday and Saturday nights. The in-place at the time for the older pupils at the local secondary schools. Without all the bother of going to dodgy places like Kingston or Sutton.

And then, after a couple of drinks, it seemed very easy and natural to wander across the road to ASK, rather than walk up the road to Khan, perhaps as far as 500m away. What is now ASK being a place we used to use, again around twenty five years ago, when it first stopped being the NatWest bank, a public house where the music was turned up at 19:30 sharp to remind older patrons, such as ourselves, that it was time to move on.

Meeted and greeted by a waiter sporting a very fine moustache, who said that he could fit us in - this being a place from where we have been turned away in the past on Friday and Saturday evenings.

First stop the vino. Not altogether satisfactory because in came in a ordinary bottle and was not wrapped in fancy yellow raffia. Contents OK though.

Digression: an authentic raffia tree (Raffia taedigera), from Madagascar, is snapped above. I don't suppose Chianti growers in Tuscany actually bother with the real thing.

A Chianti called Bramosia from Donna Laura of reference 4. A tale of enterprise of a lady who returned from Canada to her ancestral roots in Tuscany. Yours for around £12 or so online.

Gmaps turns up the scene above for the address given on the website. Lots of small trees in orchards, some vines - but no headquarters for a substantial wine operation. No winery of the name required to be seen at all. Just a Chianti sculpture garden a little way up the road.

Perhaps the telephone boxes are a nod to the hordes of Brits who have visited Tuscany over the years. 

Started the wine and then proceeded to compare and contrast the floor with the one noticed above. Reasonably clear that this one was real wood, although not clear in what units it was laid down. A reasonably old building but it seems unlikely that this was the original floor. A relay perhaps?

Next stop a foreign take on our own cheese on toast. I rather liked it.

And I did something beefy to follow. Spot on. Textured just how I like it, something that I only rarely achieve in places of this sort. BH did something involving fish which she was quite happy with.

Wound up with a new take on tiramisu, complete with chocolate gravy on the side. Tiramisu fine, but it did not,to my mind, need with the gravy or the cream.

Taking the meal as a whole, we thought the presentation and service very good. Not surprising that the place was busy by the time we left - despite it being our own first visit for a while. Not easy to search for a restaurant called 'ASK' in the archive, but it may have been as long ago as near two years, for which see reference 5. I would not have thought anything like as long ago, had I been asked.

A festive clock tower on exit. Followed by a busy Wetherspoon's, inside and out, which we did not try.

Followed by some non-scoring trolleys from T. K. Maxx. I don't recall the livery and I don't recall ever scoring one. Not in the archive either, although plenty have been captured in the vicinity.

Scored one aeroplane on the way home and then, for some reason, spent some quality time with Holman Hunt's sheep, quality to the point of taking it down from the wall. Went to bed fully intending to go and see the real thing in the near future, an intention which has yet to be realised. But we did once, quite a lot of years ago now, once get to visit the very place where the sheep are sitting.

References

Reference 1: https://www.khanepsom.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/04/trolley-669.html.

Reference 3: https://www.askitalian.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://www.donnalaurawines.com/portfolio-item/bramosia/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/an-evening-out.html.