Sunday Lunch

48 weeks in the year my wife and I return from church and cook a meal for our family at home. If we cook a Tesco chicken then it costs about 4 pounds and with all the vegetables (a 50kl bag of potatoes costs 5 pounds) I think we probably eat for about 2 pounds a person and eat very well, with tasty gravy made from the chicken, potatoes, two vegetables and apple sauce.

Why then do we risk disappointment by eating out 4 Sundays a year (all we can afford on a pension), food that is usually not as good as our own and costs up to 500% more? Well its a little treat for my wife, an opportunity for my boys to be in a social setting, an opportunity to see how someone else cooks,  and a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves. It is therefore doubly disappointing when the meal does not reach the standards implied by the cost.

What we are discovering is that there are very few places within our geographic reach that exceed our hopes and expectations. In the South, particularly around London the quality and standards of pubs and hotels has reached almost Michelin heights, but that is not true North of the Border.