An outstanding meal

It was lovely to have a third lie-in this morning - I could get used to this! We were going to Leicester today with Vikesh and his parents, but Vikesh had very kindly offered to drive us. I'm not usually very good as a passenger, but was I looking forward to a day off driving!

He picked us up at about 11.30am and we set off in the sunshine for the city where we were going to have lunch and then do a little shopping on the "Golden Mile". Vikesh drove very well and we were soon parking off the main road. His parents arrived at the same time, so we walked to Bobby's restaurant, an unassuming, diner-style eaterie that was already starting to fill up with lunchtime diners.

We looked at the menus but relied on Vikesh and his parents to choose the food. They ordered so much, that Vikesh had to write it down on his phone! The food was vegetarian and I was quite prepared to have a soft drink with the meal, but they served Indian lager so we had to choose that.

The food kept on coming in waves when it was prepared and ready, so there was always something to nibble on. I have to say, the food was outstanding, especially the chaat sampler which was one of the most delicious dishes I've ever eaten! I can't write down all that we had but there was a lot, and it was fantastic! The taste, the textures and the spices were out of this world delicious! 

And this was just some of the food we enjoyed!

I know we had a lot of paneer (cheese), chilli chips, chapattis and puris, rice, cassava chips and one fabulous dish of tempura-battered okra which I could have kept on eating! By the end of the meal, we were stuffed to the gunnels! None of us missed having meat at all as the food was so good. The only sad thing was that Vikesh felt ill halfway through lunch so he wanted to go straight back home. Sophie and I had been looking forward to shopping in the brilliant cellar shop further along the road and exploring the wonderful supermarkets in the area. She wanted to take home a box of barfi and samosas for her lunch tomorrow.

It didn't take us long to get home and Vikesh left straightaway. I suggested to Sophie that we go and get her car washed and treat ourselves to an ice cream, which is what we did! Luckily, the rain held off and we returned home with a lovely shiny little Hyundai!

As we'd eaten at lunchtime, we paid a visit to the pub for a couple of drinks and sat in the window chatting. The pub was winding down after a busy Bank Holiday and people were lingering over drinks and the remains of meals. I felt like I'd had a proper Bank Holiday weekend, which was great!