eleutheria >Food

July 22, 2004

Charlotte's Edwardian Tea Room

Don't go here if you are in Truro. It seems lovely at first. They serve high tea. There's a big portrait of Charlotte herself up on the wall. They have built up a culture there, whereby they have forgotten that their job is to serve a customer, a human being, with food and drink. They act like the customer is the problem that has to be trouble shooted ASAP. After waiting a while "to be seated" they finally cleared a table and one of the old crone waitresses shouted at us "two of you...? Over 'ere". We sat down, and another came over and angrily told us she had to wipe the table (like we were interfering in her job description by sitting down too early). Then, we didn't get served at all. Robin got fed up of the music (new age pan pipe medley of he ain't heavy, he's my brother leading to take my breath away) and we left.

Truro has to be the worst place ever for cafes. Take my word for it, because I haven't been able to write about all the places we've been there - it would be too boring to do.

It reminded me of the time we went to this amazing restaurant in Brixton. It was an Eritrean place (which our friend had told us was the capital of Ethiopia - found out later how far this is from the truth). It was great there, but this one time there was a blind american man, in there with a friend. We were all having a happy time, and didn't really care about how long we had been waiting to be served. We were surprised to hear this man shout out "I've never waited so long in my entire life" and that we had been served before him. We all whispered to each other, that's because we were in there before him, but he hadn't noticed because he was blind. You do have to wait a long time there, it's true, but it's very nice. I'd hate to be blind and not realise how nice it is, because you miss out on the lady's smile.

Does this place still exist? It's on the road down the market from the Ritzy (Coldharbour lane?). Beautiful lemon pancakes to eat the "lamb" and "Lamb Spicy". Then later, roasted coffee beans shaken under your nose and popcorn. When you have the kings feast, you have to sit around a wicker basket table.

Brixton is a great place. Is the sweet melon incense man still there? And the Post office burp talking man? When we went to the tube on the day of Princess Diana's death, there was a man selling a special supplement of the evening standard calling "Di -anna Did, Di -anna Did"