This Old Dutch

"I know  a place where we can go for lunch!"  Famous last words.  

G.O didn't want to have his photo taken on the tube in front of everyone.  He did smile eventually, but I don't want to use that photo, cruel I know.

One day G.O will learn not to listen to me.  However while getting there may always, and I mean always be a chore, the end result is most definitely worth it.  This time I wanted to take him to a Dutch pancake shop I had been to with a couple of friends last year.  Now I knew that it was in Kensington but I couldn't quite remember how to get there.  This is never a problem as far as I am concerned as long as I know a general direction, soon enough either I will recognise the place or I will whip out my GPS.  This time I did a bit off both.

We start our journey as always (these days) by car driving to Hillingdon and parking in the all day car park there.  Then we board either the Metropolitan line (most of the time this is the train we take) or the Piccalilly line (if we are heading for the West End).  Both trains are in my opinion a 'trek and a half' but I have lived along both routes and so they are quite nostalgic for me.

I have fond memories of living in Rayners Lane - photo from 2011

Now I usually have a general idea of where we were heading and can plan a route in my head, glancing at the line station stops (whatever those things are called) on the train. Occasionally, I get  a little flustered, the old grey cells aren't what they use to be (as you can tell) and I need to consult and peruse, for quite some time, a map. 

It was while doing this, after I had reassured G.O I knew exactly where we were going (I Did kind of) that I realised that we need to get to Kensington High Street and not, as I had been heading towards, Kensington South.  In hindsight, this is not an issue, but we were trapped on trains that were packed with lots of pushy people and I just couldn't take it any more (sadly I am no longer a City Girl).

I proposed a plan to walk from Knightsbridge to Kensington, it would only be about ten minutes, (nearly forty five by the time we got there) this, on any other day, would have been fine.

I decided not to take the scenic route (the household cavalry barracks, is one depressing building), we would get glimpses of the scenic route through the building occasionally, but then it started to rain, just a drizzled at first but then it became a torrential  downpour and to make maters worse G.O's orange umbrella broke.  We needed to get there fast.

Like an oasis in the desert we rounded a corner and there in front of us in all its majestic glory was the Royal Albert Hall.  G.O stopped and took some happy snaps and this buoyed us on for the rest of the journey.

A little graphic of our journey, in green, with caricatures

Finally we reached 'My Old Dutch' a gorgeous little pancake shop, it was like a little piece of pancake heaven. I couldn't quite remember what I had had the last time but I knew that it was good.

I convinced G.O to share a couple of starters with me do we had Kaasballen and Frites, there is nothing nicer than Dutch frites and mayo.  Then I decided to have a chilli con carne pancake, G.O chose a modest ham and spinach pancake.

We they arrived they were enormous, I knew straight away I had made a serious error when I ordered the starter.  I struggled to finish the pancake. As delicious as it was, oh my word it was yummy, each mouthful was starting to cause me pain.  I started to slow down, the waitress told me that they didn't close until 10pm so I could take my time (it was half past four).  After half an hour it became really uncomfortable, I had new jeans on and they were tight. 

It was definitely a case of having eyes bigger than my belly, and with my Buddha Belly that is saying something.  I didn't eat anything for the rest of the day, but I know one thing for sure, I will be going back, those pancakes are delicious.