Tips on how to Eat Out in Style – Or “If I Don’t Choose Someplace Great to Take My Wife, I Am a Dead Man!

I’m confident all of us is able to remember the film Mary Poppins, I stood in line outside the picture house with my folks when it first came out. Just as we arrived close to the front of the line the usher said the house was full – how disappointing. Mother, Dad and younger cousin went homeward and in an unusual show of trust they permitted me to stay with my elder sister to wait around for another showing. Such was the popularity of this unseen film that kids were actually allowed to stand outside the cinema without any supervision for the entire duration of the movie. When we finally got into the later house we were not unhappy and the delay became worthwhile. Among my favourite scenes was then (and still is now) the one in which Uncle Albert and Bert are trapped on the ceiling by a fit of hysteria and are next joined by Mary Poppins and the children for a floating tea party. Now I do not feel I’ll actually get the chance to learn what it'd be like to try and do this, until somebody decides to mix an indoor sky-diving activity with eating out (or up!). I began thinking of all the establishments I had dined at and how some of them could possibly be considered unusual, for instance old jail in Liverpool in which each of the cells became a ‘booth’, private if you wanted the door closed. On one occasion whilst trying to locate a place to dine in Paris we found a little restaurant which from the exterior looked shut. It turned out that you had to knock to be allowed in, a precaution first started as a result of wartime resistance that has not been relaxed; the special dish was duck that was really exceptional. However, what about other places I haven't patronised myself, I needed to select a place to take my partner for a particular birthday (more than my life’s worth to reveal which one!) for this reaso I enlisted the aid of good old Google for ideas. There's a chain of restaurants which serve up meals in absolute darkness and silence, you pick the food before you move into the dining area however you are then taken through to the dark area to eat. There is no subdued music; all you will hear are the voices of other diners who, naturally, you are unable to see. Just how you are able to get your drink into your glass and not slopping it really is beyond me. This one fascinated me, nevertheless I will be unlikely to be taking the little lady all of the way to Taiwan to test it out for myself. This dining area has a rest room theme; customers are seated on chairs shaped like lavatories and dine off tables built from bath tubs and sinks. The décor makes use of taps and lavatory signs, a roll of lavatory paper is draped across the table top, for drying hands on I might add. Other establishments rely on the venues they’re located in to create quirky experiences for the disce ing diner. Old warehouses with exposed cast-iron support posts and beams can set up small intimate corners. Old (de-consecrated) churches still with original stained-glass and altars if cleverly illumintaed are rather enticing. My investigation was certainly not exhaustive however in the end I settled on a lunch-time boat trip on the Thames which has a terrific jazz trio supplying the all-important music, we both equally enjoyed it a lot. Let us see if she is able to reciprocate and go one better when it’s my turn to celebrate.

A River Dining Cruise is just one of the various interesting things to do at the weekend that could be obtained as a gift or for yourself from My Outdoor Store.