A la Colthard / New Years Eve Gala Dinner
Nature can play cruel tricks. Ha Long Bay must qualify as one of the world’s most beautiful natural sites but its often totally shrouded in fog. This was the case yesterday. Bob and I ducked out of the Hanoi trip which would have involved 7 hours in a coach and no doubt shopping at a prearranged place motivated by commission and more karaoke. With a seven course dinner ahead of us we booth decided to take it easy .
I am not the biggest fan of New Years Eve. I had my first grope in a telephone box on one (I won’t tell you when- I know I don’t look it!!!!) after that it was expensive restaurants, faux jollifications and a hangover to start you off for the New Year. At least as it was all inclusive we were not looking at a huge bill at the end of it.
The dinner menu was circulated in advance. Caviar: cold lobster: truffle and wild mushroom risotto: asparagus soup with king crab garnish: pink champagne sorbet: Venison, chateaubriand or sea bass: forest berry sabayon. Sensibly the chef cooked small portions. Logistically they were challenged but served it all in 3 hours. The pasta here is the best I’ve ever tasted and the risotto was therefore the star.
The only problem was the noise. With a quartet and singers nearby it was impossible to have any sort of conversation. This did not deter the know-all from Dorking who was holding forth on his pro-Brexit views telling us that he had straightened out the maitre D on this. God help Sergio, he had a big enough task sorting out the tables!!! Dorking man looks like a cross between a garden gnome and David Kossoff with his trim self-important beard. Our host Robert the dancer led each widow by hand to the dance floor which is probably ther nearest they got to sex in 2016!!!! As each swooned in his arms Bob whisspered to me
“I bet he can’t turn this into the hard currency of sexual encounter !!!!”
Bob does not dance these day but claims he opened once the Red Cross ball with the Begum Agar Khan .Much to the irritation of Bob there was much photography. He was even asked to take one and had great a pleasure in messing these up. Mercifully 2017 arrived and a few moments later I retired to the cabin. At least New Year was over for another year.
