Where Do The Olive Trees In Restaurants Come From? Are They Real?

 

The decorative olive trees used inside restaurants are not real. Why? Real trees need sunlight and drained soil. In a restaurant they need watering, could attract insects and could be a fire risk.

The artificial one lok real because thev might

Use real dead preserved tree trunks, or copies of real trees

The leaves might be fire retardant silk. Ask Gemini gave me a list of suppliers.

Zaza Italian Restaurant, Pinner, For a Family Birthday Meal

We asked AI, Gemini, to find us a restaurant open Sunday night which provided sparklers for a birthday party. We also asked for a restaurant with vegetarian options. I wanted to go to the Argentinian steak house in Whetstone, all you can eat. My son said you have to give them 24 hours notice for the fish option. Besides we wanted to try somewhere new to us.

AI gave us about ten choices. Top of our shortlist was Zaza restaurant in Pinner.

We compared all the reviews on Tripadvisor and Google maps. Zaza seemed to please most people and stay within budget. So we booked.

A Good Start

Zaza Restaurant, Pinner. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

The restaurant has a double front, easy to find, near the corner. You know the famous promise, 'you can't miss it ' - but you do. We missed it. We drove down the long high street of shops and pubs from the church down to the Park - ending with the lake and Heath Robinson Museum and Pinner station to your left. It's not there. It's in the short run of shops in the road running parallel. In a moment we were there.

Delightful Decor

Lovely lights on the decorative tree. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I liked the imitation tree branching across the ceiling in both of the two rooms. At night it is attractively lit with white fairy lights.

We were in the less busy second room. Our reserved table was a circular table with a bench alcove. A bench is convenient for spreading your bags around you, off the floor, safely away from thieves. Those on the bench are away from clumsy passers-by who might trip over your bags, or bump into your chair. We could sandwich the 5 year old between two adults on the circular bench so she could not get lost or annoy others and we could attempt to make her eat. 

Music

Music was playing as we arrived but it soon diminished and was never so loud that we could not talk.

Drinks

Prosecco served in a Champagne flute kept me happy. The menu offered lots of drinks available by the glass. Good for the drivers - we had two drivers, two families in separate cars. Also non-alcoholic drinks.

We went without starters as we were saving ourselves for dessert.

The restaurant has a child's menu.

Spaghetti bolognaise was served up with no meat and tomato sauces on the side for a child, at our request.

Main Courses

The salad we ordered as a side dish with one of the main courses contained small green olives.

Lamb in sauce, cheaper than the steak, excellent for a meat eater.

Salad. Potatoes. Zaza Restaurant in Pinner. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Seafood - a good selection of three kinds of seafood.

Chicken with potatoes. I prefer to have chicken in white sauce with mushrooms. I settled for breaded chicken and it surprised me by being acceptable. I liked the small potatoes in herbs.

Desserts

The high point of the meal for me was desserts. 

First, most important, the dessert for the birthday girl with happy birthday written on the plate and a sparkler. She had not ordered dessert, and was not asked to order a dessert so that they had something to put the candle on, which had happened to us once at another restaurant.

I had lemon tart, with an impressive decorative swirl of red sauce. The sauce was tasty. It tasted of sweet strawberries and sugar.

The bar is by the door and we had been greeted on arrival by somebody who asked if we had booked and showed us to our table. Somebody at the bar said goodbye as we left.

Toilets

Two cubicles, one for men, one for women. Conveniently on the ground floor. Like all the restaurant.

Service

Service was obliging and fast. 

Verdict

Not haute cuisine. We would not rush to go back. But very pleasant once in a while.

Not Michelin standard but good enough and a good price. 

Parking

On Sunday night parking was easy, in the road outside for free. Also in the car park opposite.

What did they not do? What could they add? No flowers on the table. In lieu of a bouquet I had cut a four or five rose heads off my garden roses, and the waitress, at my request for a bowl, brought a drinking glass which I filled with water to act as a small vase.

No chocolates with the bill. But I did not miss them at the time, only in analyzing the whole place with a fine tooth comb, in retrospect. We were quite happy. We had had chocolate dessert.

The Name Zaza

After I got home, I wondered why the restaurant was called Zaza. First, Za or Zaza is an abbreviation or slang term for pizza. Yes, they have pizza on the menu. 

Secondly Zaza is a character in Italian pop culture, and was famous in the 1944 Napolitan song Where is Zaza (Dove sta Zaza).

Thirdly, Zaza is a popular name for friendly family restaurants. The Trattoria Zaza is famous in Florence, Italy. 

If you are wondering where you have heard the name Zaza before in English, it is the name of a biblical character in the Book of Chronicles, an Italian footballer, in rap songs it stands for potent weed (marijuana), and the zebra Zaza is a character in the children's TV series Peppa Pig.

You might also be thinking of the fashion brand Zara. Or the actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. But now you know it is a restaurant in Pinner. 

The Zaza Italian Restaurant group has seven branches. The other six are in Berkhamsted, Bushey, Enfield, Harpenden, Old Amersham, and Ruislip. You can book a private dining room for a fee at Old Amersham, Ruislip and Berkhamsted.

Zaza Italian Restaurant, 

8 Love Lane, Pinner, HA5 3EF.

Tel:020 8866 3883

Useful Websites

www.zaza.co.uk

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German Words

 

Where can you use German? In Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

Also in parts of several other countries. 

Belgium (co-official language in the German-speaking Community in the east.

Liechtenstein (official language)

• Luxembourg (co-official language alongside Luxembourgish and French)

Also Recognized & Spoken In Regions 

• Italy: Recognized as an official regional language in the South Tyrol (Alto Adige) region.

• Namibia: Recognized as a national minority language (due to its colonial history).

• Minority Communities: German is also spoken by recognized minority populations in parts of 

• Poland, 

• Czech Republic, 

• Hungary, 

• Romania, 

• Slovakia, 

• France (Alsace and Lorraine), 

• Denmark, 

• Russia (Volga Germans).

Some words you might spot when travelling. 

Austria

Innsbruck

The word Bruck means bridge as used in the Austrian city of Innsbruck.

Salzburg

Salzburg in Austria means salt city.

Germany

Frankfurt

Furt means ford, as in the German city of Frankfurt.

Dusseldorf

Dorf, like the English word thorpe, means village. You see that is German towns like 

Dusseldorf, and in the English attraction, Thorpe Park. 

German - English

Bus - bus

Film - film

oft - often

Maschine - machine

English - German

bus - Bus

film - Film

machine - Maschine

often - oft

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German Words Which Look the Same As English

Where can you use German? In Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

The word Bruck means bridge as used in the Austrian city of Innsbruck. Salzburg in Austria means salt city.

Furt means ford, as in the German city of Frankfurt.

Dorf, like the English word thorpe, means village. You see that is German towns like Dusseldorf, and in the English attraction, Thorpe Park. 

German nouns have capital initial letters.

English - German

balloon - Ballons

bus - Bus

chocolate - Schokolade

creative - kreativ

engineer - Ingenieur

garden - Garten

guest - Gaste (double dot over the letter a)

often - oft

pizza - Pizzen

poster - Poster

Rome - Rom

Spanish - Spanisch

young - Jung

German - English

Ballons - balloon

Bus - bus

Garten - garden

Gaste (double dot over the letter a) - guest

Ingenieur - engineer

kreativ - creative

oft - often

Pizzen - pizza

Poster - poster

Rom - Rome

Schokolade - chocolate

Spanisch - Spanish

Jung - young

Useful Websites for learning German

duolingo.com

wikitravel German phrasebook

translate Google

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Seen In Hatch End - Cookery Queen Mrs Beeton & More

Flag of the London Borough of Harrow, in Hatch End, Pinner. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Restaurants and Mrs Beeton Plaque

The plaque to Mrs Beeton is on the exterior wall of Lattakia Restaurant.

Hatch End has many restaurants and a heritage plaque to cookery queen Mrs Beeton.

Trees & Plaques In Hatch End

At least three trees in the street have plaques at the base telling you the type of tree or the donors or both. I had been wondering what an elm tree looks like.

I identified a horse chestnut tree where the Broadway turns into Grimsdyke Road because I saw conkers lying on the pavement (Americans say sidewalk).

Plaques On Flower Displays

Useful Websites

Hatch End in Wikipedia

Lattakia Restaurant

https://www.lattakia.co.uk/

More photos shortly