London – 13th July

Captain Caveman had arranged a day out on Sunday 13th July and the main event was a surprise – it would turn out to be one of the most memorable days in a long time. All I knew was that we were going out for lunch and that I should wear something nice. I had brought my favourite black dress but it required a strapless bra and I’d yet to go shopping for one, so that was out. I didn’t know what else I could wear as I’d only brought cycling shorts and t-shirts which, apparently, would not be suitable. I also only had Vietnamese porter sandals, one of which had a tear down the back. Captain Caveman said that wouldn’t matter and no one would notice my feet. Even though I was having a day off, I still started the day with checking my Jo Lo – Resort Experts business page on Facebook. I noticed I had finally got my 300th follower and was really happy about that. These days it’s all about growing an audience and it’s something I was still struggling to do, despite having a lot of contacts in real life and 1700 friends on Facebook, it was one of the hardest things to do to get people to follow and like my travel page. I wasn’t sure why, especially when some of my colleagues were in the thousands on theirs.
Captain Caveman made me beans on sourdough toast with bacon and a cup of tea for breakfast. I probably shouldn’t have bothered eating so much but I was unaware of what the surprise was for today, at this point.
I put on my cycling shorts, porter sandals and the only other dress I had with me, over the top – my £8 red Primark one from my last visit. Captain Caveman was wearing his bespoke shirt made in Saigon, with storks on. I had a feeling we were going somewhere nice.
We walked to Barnes station, got the train, all with me asking questions about the surprise. I only knew we were going for lunch and Captain Caveman had booked us in for 1pm. We arrived at a fairly ordinary looking building in Clapham and Captain Caveman said we were here and we were going upstairs. What I didn’t realise at the time was that we were at Trinity, a Michelin star restaurant which has a second restaurant, above it, called Upstairs (I saw what they did there)!

We walked in, were greeted professionally and shown to a table, which were all high tables and stools. I did my best to get seated without flashing my cycling shorts but couldn’t be certain the polite staff hadn’t clocked them. The place was small and pleasantly decorated with an open plan kitchen area. We were given water (choice of still or sparkling for free), and of course we opted for ordinary tap water. A set menu and wine list were popped on the table as the lady attending to us explained that we would be enjoying a 3 course set Sunday lunch which would be served to everyone in the Upstairs restaurant at the same time. I was impressed already and started to peruse the wine menu. When I saw the prices, I passed the menu to Captain Caveman and thought we may be sticking with just water. Of course, I was still used to tight budgeting and living in Dalyan which is super cheap compared to London. Captain Caveman ordered a bottle of the Falanghina Di Majo Norante, an Italian white wine, at £46 per bottle. The place started to fill up and I was obviously the cheapest dressed person in the room, including the staff!

When our first course of chilled Ajo Bianco came, I had no clue what it was so I tried it tentatively at first. It was basically a cold almond soup which, if I’m honest, sounds unpleasant but it was absolutely fantastic. It was served with toasted chunky bread and went well with the wine. I even asked for the recipe, as did fellow diners near to me. They gave me a card with the recipe on which I thought was great.
Our next course was the best Sunday dinner I’ve had in a very long time. Veal with carrots and potatoes which was amazingly tasty, I even had seconds and gravy. We’d polished off the wine, before finishing our second helping so Captain Caveman insisted we have a glass each of the Chateau La Marche Canon red wine. I was so full but I continued to eat every mouthful, completely forgetting we had dessert to follow.
Captain Caveman is not a sweet person but he had eaten his fig leaf panna cotta before I could even ask if he liked it, he then ate the other half of mine that I couldn’t manage.
The whole experience had been fantastic and a total surprise. To be able to see all the dishes being prepped too was great and I was so full I could have had a sleep. Captain Caveman paid the bill, here’s what the prices were;

Upstairs
2 Sunday lunches £90
1 bottle of white wine £46
2 glasses of red wine £24
Service/tip £20
Total spent £180

While I wrestled with the notion that we had just spent on one meal what, only 6 months ago, was more than my monthly budget, Captain Caveman went to the upstairs toilet. I hadn’t realised there was an upstairs toilet so I had been going downstairs each time, through the Trinity restaurant to use that toilet. I felt quite emotional that I had been treated to such an experience, it was also quite difficult not to feel guilty at spending so much. However, the day wasn’t over and we had more to come as Captain Caveman navigated us to our next event.

By 3.30pm, Captain Caveman and I were walking from Upstairs and Trinity, in Clapham, to our next venue. I was quite sluggish, having eaten one of the best Sunday lunches for a while. We passed Joe Public which sold pizza and the smell made me queasy. Captain Caveman has a habit of being close by one minute and then zooming off so when I pointed out the Dubai Bun chocolate stall, it was to another man who stopped and bought one, on my suggestion, when I’d thought it was my other half. We passed a museum and I took photos of buildings I liked but there was no sauntering involved.

We arrived around 5pm to the Physic Garden in Chelsea where we were booked to listen to live music outside. The weather was very pleasant as Captain Caveman got out his picnic blanket and we sat down on the grass. Everyone else arrived and were getting out their picnics, we just sipped water and tried not to fall asleep before it started.
The concert in Physic Garden started at 6.30pm and was absolutely amazing. Hanzhi Zhang on the piano was phenomenal and didn’t really get any recognition as she was just accompanying, but she was top notch. There was a German born opera singer who was very talented and I forget his name. My favourite performer was the Japanese violinist Ryo Koyama who I had already read about and he even did an improvised session with the opera singer. There was a Vietnamese guy who was outstanding at playing the zither while singing and it was great to watch and listen to. The main act of the show was Sarah Small on her Viola da Gamba which she had been cycling around with on tour. She was extremely good too, although how she held her bow really bothered me, and we both enjoyed all of the performers. I was surprised that Captain Caveman was into it as string concerts are more my thing. The cost of the ticket was just £20 each which was a bargain. The concert finished around 9.15pm and we left to go back to Barnes, passing a house where a blue plaque showed that Bob Marley had lived there 48 years ago. Today had been a really special day that I would remember for a very long time – I felt extremely lucky and happy to be in London with Captain Caveman.

Gratitude List
1. Reaching the 300 follower mark on my business page
2. Being surprised with a fabulous meal at Upstairs of Trinity restaurant
3. Enjoying live music in the beautiful Physic Garden.