Rumour has it that my mother was born February 6th, 1918. If that’s true, then today was her 90th birthday. After some agonizing over what to get her by way of a present, we had decided to arrange for her a VIP tour in Woburn Safari Park. Unfortunately, at this time of year, such tours are only available on weekends so that is having to wait for the coming Saturday, 9th. So as not to let this day pass unnoticed, though, we (including my cousin Mark and his partner Linda) decided to take her and her friend Tony for lunch at the Loch Fyne restaurant in Woburn. The pictures are courtesy of Mark and Linda for which, many thanks.
We seem to be in a spell of settled weather and were blessed with sunshine; a wonderful treat since February is usually the worst of the dozen weatherwise. Let’s hope our luck continues for Saturday and the VIP safari trip. Carol went off for the morning to get very grubby on her regular Wednesday Greensand Trust volunteering but set an alarm to return by 12:15 PM. While she showered and donned the Armani, I went to collect Mother and Tony, returned for a spruced-up Carol, and we went over to meet Mark and Linda in Woburn for 1:00 PM.
We’d been instructed “not to tell anyone” and “not to make a fuss” about the 90th but, in the restaurant, lo and behold two helium balloons reading “Happy Birthday” and (my favourite) “I demand a recount” surrounding a table for six smothered in colourful, glittering “90” cut outs. Excellent! Well done Mark and Linda – I have to behave myself. 😉
The menu is very good, the hardest thing being to make a choice. There’s a couple of dishes for those not heavily into fish (Tony) but fish and seafood is why Loch Fyne exists. Birthday girl sucked down a few oysters to start with and then went with some crab cakes and roasted ratatouille which looked both very appetizing and a little like M. Mouse (explanation: the crab cakes were arranged like mouse ears over the ratatouille which became his face to my twisted mind – food like a Rorschach inkblot test). As usual, Mater finished with a cheese board but not any old cheese board this since the cheese appeared topped by three sparkling candles. There wasn’t room for the other 87! I suspected Mark and Linda, again. 🙂
I’m not readily impressed by restaurants but the choice (for fish lovers) and quality here was very good. Add to that the fact that the staff was very accommodating and I’d certainly return. A most enjoyable lunch was had by all, I think.
Now, on to Saturday’s safari, fingers crossed.
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