Eating alone at Bendida beach on the Thracian Cliffs golf course, Balchik, Bulgaria
(One of the most spectacular golf courses in the world)
Going out to a restaurant for a meal on your own is like a hurdle that has to be jumped. I've not managed to do this until very old and grown up, not caring any more if people think "Ooo, there sits a lonely old lady." Which they probably don't think anyway. Twenty years ago I was much more self-concious about these situations - heaven forbid that people might think nobody wants to be with you!
When you're eating out alone it is nice to have a book or a magazine at hand, simply because you don't want to be dragging out that mobile phone to pretend you're a bit busy in between courses (yeah, yeah - so much for self-confidence....). Having lunch at the Refuel in Soho last year I did not have anything to occupy myself with while waiting for a plate of delicious oysters, and the lovely waitress brought me something to read, even without my having to ask. This was the start of my experience called "Big Mama Being Looked After And Taken Care Of By Waiters, Taxi Drivers, Musicians In Clubs And Random Men In The Street."
Café Malou, Oslo, Norway
I wonder - do they take pity on me? The waiters, the taxi drivers etc? Hmm... no, I let that thought go very quickly. Late one evening in Notting Hill I was very hungry and a lot of places were already closing, but then I spotted a restaurant which seemed to be right on the tourist track, with the slightly worn-out name of Portobello Ristorante & Pizzeria.
I was welcomed into an atmosphere of pure hospitality, the manager himself came and took my orders, and they all pampered me no end. When I said I would like "vongole" (small clams) but not with pasta and without calamares (difficult Old & Big Mama) he said "I will cooka you a special dish - you just trusta me." When I said "And a glass of Prosecco, please," I was totally accepted into the hearth. And oh wow. Oh wow. Just a pure and simple mixture of vongole and mussels cooked in garlic, chili and white wine. When he came over again after the meal and asked me if I'd enjoyed it (and to bid me good night, no less), I said "This was just the way I like it." He replied "You know, Madam - simplicity is always the best." OH YES.
A hundred years ago when I lived in Brighton, my sister and I went to a restaurant called French Connections, which probably doesn't exist any more. From that evening I have carried with me two memories - and they're not about the food - which was exquisite by the way. No - one of them was that every table had a fruit basket placed in the middle. (Fruit baskets became my entrepreneurial idea fifteen years later). The second was a beautiful young woman alone at a table reading a novel while enjoying her meal. When she finished she picked an apple from the basket, threw it way up in the air and caught it, then walked out - with an assertive attitude and a swag. Way to go, girl!
Enjoying alone-time in Bulgaria
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