“It’s brain,” I said: “pure brain! What do you do to get like that Jeeves? I believe you must eat a lot of fish, or something. Do you eat a lot of fish, Jeeves?” “No sir.”
(My Man Jeeves, PG Wodehouse)
Now here’s something that eats a lot of fish. I saw this cormorant near Hammersmith Bridge with the eel it had just caught. It toyed with it for a while, shaking it around like a terrier with a rat. Then it swam out a little way, stretched its neck skywards and the whole eel slipped down with as much ease as an asparagus spear. A dedicated wildlife photographer might take a lifetime to capture this scene but walking alone encourages observation and contemplation. When I walked across Richmond Green I noticed this architectural homage to Horace Walpole.
As soon as I got home I thought I’d like some fish too. Robert and I went to the newly opened Japan House on Kensington High Street for lunch at Akiri and had salmon sushi bento boxes. We usually have a similar lunch at Hare and Tortoise at the other (west) end of Ken High. Akiri is at least twice as good but three times as expensive. The service is exemplary, the dining room well laid out with chunky wooden tables (unless you eat at the counter surrounding the open-plan kitchen) and bento boxes good enough to photograph.
It was about 80% full on Monday at lunchtime so I recommend booking if you want excellent Japanese nosh. The evening menu is significantly more expensive than lunch, by the way. Last year I went to Hutong for lunch. It is on the 33rd floor of The Shard with good views if you book a table for two because you sit by the windows. Larger parties are in the centre and get less good views. It is not comparable to Akiri because it is Chinese (Shandong Province) nevertheless the former gets my vote for proximity, cuisine, ambience and value. The hot spell in London and most of Britain broke at the weekend.
I find the craze for food photography at table terribly boorish. It is impossible to dine out with family or friends these days without some of them feeling obliged to share the contents of their lunch on social media.
While growing up we were urged to ‘eat up before it gets cold’, and the only reason to pause before we tucked in was if the Rector was present, as he would recite some words from The General Thanksgiving.
I am conscious that I belong to yesterdays world, but I believe restaurants are places for dining, and the most important factor should be how food tastes. If they were places for food photography they would be called studios.