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JDC Area 33 - Sunday Lunch – May 24th - The Cricketers, Clavering It was a pleasure to drive north away from Southend on this Sunday as the ever popular Southend Air Show was in town again. It’s reckoned to be the largest free air show in Europe bringing visitors from all over the south of England and certainly as we drove along the A127, en route to the M11 Junction 8 for Clavering, the eastbound traffic was nose to tail all the way to the M25, about 17 miles; so Southend was going to be one huge car park! |
| Linda and I arrived a
little late to find Reg & Ronnie, Keith & Pam, Tony & Sian,
Terry & Trish and Tony (as Anthea was away what else is a man
supposed to do for a meal?) basking in the warm sun sipping
aperitifs outside. Fortunately I had pre-booked, as all tables were already allocated, as we made our way through the low beamed establishment to our table. As was expected, with the Jamie Oliver connections, the menu was a delight offering so many choices. From fresh Maldon Oysters, Squid and Chorizo or Confit of local Rabbit to Local duck from Telmara farm, Twenty one day hung Hereford rib eye steak and Organic Salmon steak. Lashings of nicely cooked vegetables accompanied these dishes on request. |
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Reg couldn’t quite finish his
Local Duck, it was a large half Duck portion, and according
to Sunday Lunch rules was not entitled to a pud; however,
Linda convinced us that his “pudding tummy” was still
available and he could therefore have one! Of course that meant nearly everyone had their pudding tummy to fill! However, Pam had a slight fracas with the waitress who said that deleting the Sticky Toffee pud and only having the Ice Cream would “unbalance” the dish; even holding it with two hands we questioned? |
| So Ronnie stepped in to
“re-balance” the issue and asked to see the Manager; to
whom she politely explained “what a load of ****s” and
duly obtained a “perfectly balanced” dish of ice cream
for Pam! Having said that the whole meal was really excellent and most enjoyable; another quality Sunday Lunch for Area 33 in excellent company and with beautiful weather throughout the day.
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