Cafe Murano
Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall
'On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.'
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Thursday evening in London Town & trip to the Coliseum to see this ..
I'm accompanied by a cousin & I've booked a pre-theatre bite to eat here ..
We're in the Covent Garden restaurant & the clock is ticking with the curtain up due at 1900.
There's a really warm welcome & a check on whether or not we're headed for a show so they know our timings.
Here come the menu choices & for the cousin it's ..
Arancini, Tomato & Mozzarella, Basil Mayonnaise
Cured trout, Blood Orange, Crushed Pistachio & Sorrel Leaves
For me ..
Gnocchi, Brown Crab Cacio e Pepe
Lamb Spezzatino, New Potatoes, Mint Gremolata
Everything was most tasty, (although a few morsels of my lamb stew were just fat which wasn't for me), a couple of glasses of wine, Verdicchio & Rosato & we're on our way down the road to the Coliseum.
Uh oh. There's a red carpet & a few celebrities pouting around. Panic ensues from the cousin though I reassure her that any paps won't be interested in us. A long queue & bag search to get in & the performance begins at 1915.
The two of us were split on opinion on The Great Gatsby. My cousin wasn't really bowled over by it but I enjoyed two hours of escapism.
Food and drink in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic symbolise the opulence & excesses of the Twenties. Our pre-theatre supper might not have been to Jay Gatsby's extravagant expectations but for a couple of gals out in the West End on a school night, it was perfect.
AMM
