Meeting the family

Today was the day we were due to meet more of Vikesh's family at a birthday lunch for him in town, so we all dressed up smartly, after a leisurely morning, and made our way to the Wellingborough Road. Vikesh had picked a Japanese restaurant called Ginza (I didn't even know it existed, thinking Akasaka was the only one in town) but as we were very early, we called into the deserted Spread Eagle pub first for a drink.

The pub had gone to town with Halloween decorations, but it was only us and another man having a drink, so a bit depressing! We saw Vikesh and his family walk past which was a signal for us to finish our drinks and walk the short distance to the restaurant.

There were eighteen of us sitting down for lunch and I was very glad we'd already met his parents, and his brother and sister-in-law a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit overwhelming at first but his whole family are lovely and made us feel very welcome.

The youngsters sat at a table behind us while we oldies sat together and chatted. We shared a starter of delicious gyoza, chicken skewers, king prawn tempura, vegetable spring rolls and samosas. It was difficult to choose a main course as there were so many choices but in the end, Keith and I enjoyed a main course of katsu chicken curry, and we drank a Japanese beer to go with the meal. The table behind was very noisy and we oldies managed to talk over the hubbub to get to know each other!

I declined dessert, as I was full from the starter and main meal, and I do think that Ginza is better than Akasaka, which is saying something! People started to make their excuses and leave, so we followed suit and we all walked back to the car park together.

It was bliss to get home, get cosy and play Scrabble in the evening, knowing we didn't have to think about an evening meal and cooking!