Sun Do, Sevenoaks

This is a very nice Chinese restaurant that we have been back to several times following Trish's recommendation. Although we didn't go there tonight as part of the Ladybirds' lunches, we did go with Trish, her brother and his soon to be CP'd partner.

The food is good because it is very fresh and they have a policy of no monosodium glutamate. I recommend the thin vermicelli with tiger prawns and the prawn toasts as a starter are up at the top of the table of prawn toasts. The others had some tasty looking honey chicken with sesame seeds and some beef with green beans, it all looked lovely. The bill including wine and coffee (and tip) came to a reasonable £25 each.

Parking is a bit of a pain being a couple of blocks down, but hey, a five minute walk never killed anyone.

The Horns in Otford

This was one of the best pubs where we've enjoyed a Sunday lunch. There were 18 of us and we had our own room with one long table, but Jan made sure we moved around so that everyone got the chance to talk to everyone else.

The food was excellent - gastro food at £15 for two courses or £17 for three. The crayfish and avocado followed by sea bass was absolutely delicious. I didn't think I had room for a third but the cheese plate sounded unusual and very tempting. These guys really know what they're doing in the kitchen and I'll certainly be back.

Gilly

The Crown at Groombridge

Hi

Had a very pleasant lunch today at the Crown, organised by Julie and her walking group. That morning, they enjoyed a four mile ramble from the pub car park to Tunbridge Wells via meadows and woods, then took the train back to Groombridge for the lunch.

On arrival at the Crown we mentioned to the landlady that I had had a text from Julie who wanted her to know they would be a little late for their booking, as a bolt had needed replacing on the Spa Valley Railway train, delaying their arrival by about 20 minutes. She looked a little stressed.

We then ordered a bottle of wine and two mains (the vegetarian nut roast that comes with roast tats and salad) and offered her the cash. She said it would be easier for her to take the money at the end when we had all finished eating, and looked a little stressed, but nevertheless accepted the cash.

She asked us if we wanted to eat immediately or to wait for the others to arrive. We replied we'd prefer to wait for the others to arrive. Again, she looked a little stressed.

We then asked if we might possibly have veg and gravy instead of salad with our nut roast, being as it was Sunday lunch. She said the chef was very busy as this was Sunday lunch, and looked a little stressed. We said yes, it was indeed Sunday, which was why we fancied a vegetarian variation on the trad roast. She said she would ask the chef if he could manage to put veg and gravy on our plates instead of salad, given how busy he was today, and once again stress crossed her features.

We made our way to the safety of the 'snug' and didn't have long to wait before our friends arrived. Our nut roast did indeed come with veg rather than salad, but no gravy. We asked the waitress why no gravy and she said proudly, "Because all our gravies here are properly made from boiled meat bones." We pointed out that Bisto do a very good gravy for vegetarians - in fact all Bisto is vegetarian as far as I know.

I might as well have mentioned dog doo doo. The waitress looked horrified. "We wouldn't DREAM of having anything to do with GRANULAR gravy!" she whispered.

"But that means we vegetarians get no gravy at all," we moaned. At that point it was our turn to look a little stressed.

Sankeys fish restaurant and their dressed salmon fillets

The dressed salmon provided by Sankeys worked well at the girly garden buffet at The Lancers. If we wanted to get into a 'gate' situation we could complain that the original version of this dish was supposed to come with massive jaws and a poor little dead prawn between its gnashers. We changed it (fortunately) at the last minute for us fainthearted lasses who couldn't cope with the idea of a head or eyes <s>.

 The end result was perfect.

Ladybirds' Sunday lunch blog

Hello Ladybirds

Due to popular demand we've created a blog where you can talk about your experience about our Sunday lunches and 'gate away' as much as you like! So whether you love your food or find fault with it, this is the place that you can let of steam about:


- undercooked veg
- lack of veg whether undercooked or otherwise
- raw meat
- owners who can't be bothered to take credit cards

etc!