Problem
Where to eat in Mill Hill? Once a year we meet there with frieds who live nearby. The resaurants change hands. What used to be the Raj Indian, and very nice, too, has turned into an American style diner, run by a man and a woman, according to our friends. The man has a South African accent. I do like a South African accent. I find it's clear, clipped and easy to understand.
I asked, "Why is your restaurant named Hudsons?"
He said, We thought it sounded American." So it fits their theme.
My dining companion told me, "The Hudson is the river in the New York, where you park near the airport."
We spent the next ten minutes talking about planes crashing into rivers in New York and Washington DC and how in one crash people got out alive.
Their business address card says, Established 2015. From it I discover that they have another branch in Whetstone.
Our friends seem to like it. This is not their first visit. They know what they want to order.
I nip straight to the loos. Ladies and Gents are facing each other on the ground floor at the back. The ladies has a wide door for wheelchair access. That's good for our group. One of our lot has a walking stick and a disabled badge.
That's what happens when you have an older man and a younger wife. If they have an enduring marriage, she often ends up as a carer for him. I spent some time looking after an ailing father. Whilst a sudden death, like my mother's saves you the worry and tiresomeness of looking after somebody, those of us who have had to do it don't regret a moment, and would only wish our loved one had lasted longer.
The BBC has an excellent video by a doctor saying that death is often not as bad as we fear. Many people just sleep more, and breathe more lightly, until one day, eventually, they lose consciousness and stop breathing. So when you read, 'passed away peacefully', the writers are not hiding any horror, they are speaking the truth.
The location of the toilets suits me well. I'm a trifle disappointed. I have been in a lot of smart restaurants and hotels and homes, where you are given a matching set of hand gel and moisturizer on the wall. Even with a budget, you can pick up coloured gels with fruited or flowery and scented ingredients.
The Ladies is occupied and my group is waiting for me to return so we can order. I open the Gents. No urinal. No reason why I shouldn't use it to speed up.
Nice, fast hand dryer, one of things that's good about Britain, Dyson hand dryers everywhere.
Drinks
I order Prosecco. I like the glass. Nothing wonderful about it but nothing wrong with it. The price suits me. Our wine expert scoffs. But I don't like his drink either. I like mine. I ordered it and I like it. That's good enough. We've all managed to find what we want by the glass, a good choice, like in a pub.
I've been in a five star, Michelin, gourmet restaurant where had walls of wines, yet they only served dry reds and vinegary dry whites, dozens of expensive bottles, and horrifically high priced vintage Champagne, no chance to have a sparkling white or a sweet wine by the glass or a different wine with each course to match it. So this place has the drinks list right for me.
Now we are on to starters. I spot chicken soup for starters, fish and chips or salt beef for main course. That's for me. I fancy chicken soup. The weather has been snow and then rain in London. At a recent meeting elsewhere an American complained about the rain. One of the English people replied, "We say, in London, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.
She laughed. I thought that was an old joke. It's old in our family. We say it all the time. However, it's still new to some.
Salt beef and fries at Hudsons. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Chicken soup.
Chicken Soup
Chicken soup, a cure for colds, warms you up in cold weather. At first sight and first sip I am unimpressed. But the others like my soup and say, 'it's good!'. I prefer B & K in Hatch End, which serves filling dumplings. On the other hand, once you stir, this soup has lots of hidden bits of stringy chicken sunk beneath the pondweed of the vermicelli. (Noodles - if that's what you prefer to call it.)
So this restaurant has hidden Jewish deli food. If that's what you want.
B & K has better Jewish-style food, it's their whole speciality, but this place is bigger with better ambience.
The dark brick warehouse style walls are not my thing. I like clean white. I like smooth, soft surfaces.
Service is slow, but we are not in a hurry. I have had orange juice and crisps at my friends' house. We are happy to talk.
Our choices are varied. I have the salt beef. So-so.
What looks like a hamburger is on my left. Plus a side order of onion rings. No accounting for taste.
Onion rings. An ample portion.
The other woman has duck. That's her favourite. She has had it before.
The best dish - beef. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Beef is on my right. This is much better than the salt beef. Moist. Delicious. Worth a trip.
Why do they give me the mustard upside down?
My portion of the bill is £25 including two courses, service and an alcoholic drink to start. If you ordered desserts and coffee, you would be paying £7.50 for a cocktail (all priced the same which makes life easy), about £6 for a dessert. It's easy to check the bill.
By the bar, as we leave, I admire the mirrors, and the paintings of two animals, in colours. I'm not sure that vegans and vegetarians, like my friends, want to be surrounded by pictures of animals while eating.
The cow needs a haircut. Just as well it can't see what we're eating. Nice multi-coloured hair. The latest thing.
The sheep appears to be crying. I like its coat of many colours.
However, animal paintings in restaurants are the fashion. I do prefer people and animals to inanimate objects, or daubs of colour which look like they have been created by a machine.
The restaurant's two bar servers are bright and keen and manage to give me the business card instantly. Full marks.
(It amazes me how many restaurants are trying to hide their identity. They can't find a business card. Because they keep changing their name so the cards are always out of date and being reprinted. No wonder service is slow when they can't find anything. You feel they must have hailed a passer-by in the street to serve. Maybe they pay so badly that they have new staff every day who can't find anything.)
I'm not keen on the grey colour, grey being the world's least favourite color. However, the card layout is perfect. One of the clearest cards I've ever seen. Name on one side big. Style of the restaurant under that. The two restaurants' addressed on the back, one left, one right, in large enough type to read. The website and email for both at the end. Clear.
One of our group of four has late-onset diabetes. That's widely thought to be caused by eating too much sugar-laden food. Restaurants have sugar-laden desserts and rarely fruit. We go home to our friends for a slice each of apple pie.
We have no room for dessert and enough leftover meat from the salt beef and beef main courses to take home for tomorrow's lunch.
What's missing? The old Indian restaurant would have given us a chocolate with the bill and rushed to open the door as we exit. The Indian staff would have smiled and bowed. In America, they would have said, "Come back and see us again soon".
Of course, we will go back. Next year. Our friends are planning to try the new restaurant opening opposite. Mill Hill is getting like Hatch End and much of London. What the High Street lacks in useful shops for the daytimes, it makes up for with a generous supply of restaurants. Our friends would like to move from a house on three levels to place with no stairs. See next post on Mill Hill.
HUDSONS
123 The Broadway
Mill Hill
London NW7 3TG
Reservations, tel: (+44) 020 3908 7575.
email: info@hudsonsbrasserie.com
www.hudsonsbrasserie.com
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my next post on Mill Hill. Please share links to your favourite posts and check out my books on Lulu.com
