This afternoon we went for our now traditional post-Christmas, pre-New Year lunch at The Wolseley. This is the fifth year in a row we've been now and, I think, this was the best one yet. When I say best one yet, it was precisely the same as all the others only more so. We even sat in the same area of the restaurant we always do, but there's something so perfect about this place that the fact you know the menu by heart, you know what the breadsticks look like and you recognise the brand of butter they use just makes it all the more enjoyable. The Wolseley is brilliantly, inspiringly reliable, you know that the service will be fantastic, you know you'll look at the tableware and linen and want to take it all home. And I couldn't give a monkey's about tableware and linen. Silvana's drinks - a glass of champagne, a glass of their own petit Chablis looked great (I stuck with fizzy mineral water). And while I grimaced slightly at paying £4.75 for a small bowl of buttered spinach, the espressos (served with a small glass of water and a dark chocolate) were great and less than two quid a pop, so it's swings and rahnd-a-bahts, innit? Scrap had - and really enjoyed - Eggs Benedict and we all shared the world's greatest, crispiest, most delicious whitebait starter. Oh, and Rhys Ifans and Sienna Miller were in there hoiking down roast beef and yorkshire puds in between nodding politely at strangers. I interviewed Rhys once, so I kept a professional distance and allowed Silvana to tell me what was going on over my shoulder. When they left he pulled on a pork pie hat and she climbed behind a huge pair of sunglasses. You see, our celebrity cousins can be reliable too. So, all good then. Perhaps it's even better than Locanda?
