Ex-pat supper
Sunday, 19th February 2006 by JulieWe had a fun excursion last night – visiting a new area, socialising with a large number of other (mostly new-to-us) South Africans, and trying a new restaurant.
The occasion was Gavin’s birthday supper – Gavin being a friend of Tom’s from ThoroughTec days, who moved out to London last year in the wake of a mass family exodus from SA. Gavin had invited all of his extended London-based family along to his birthday bash, and with us and a few other friends that took the numbers to 14. There was one American, and one unknown (because we didn’t get to talk to him) – and all the rest were SA ex-pats.
The restaurant, Abiba Cuisine, had an extensive menu – with large sections indicating a distinctly Lebanese theme. Tom and I both chose the fatayer (spinach parcels) for starters. These were 4 substantial little pasty-type creations (with a bread-like pastry) with tasty spinach and pinenut filling that went down well with the very drinkable French chardonnay we’d opted for.
Tom couldn’t resist the fillet steak for mains (even though this meant stepping outside of the 3-courses-for-£15 bounds) while I had the less tender but quite flavoursome sweet duck breast. And we both finished off with a heavenly crème caramel – as good as home-made (and that’s definitely saying something!)
As usual, when it comes to the European community of the Greater Durban Metro, everybody discovers that they somehow have links to the others. Our crowd was no exception. One of Gavin’s friends remembered Tom lecturing him at UND, and I recognised a classmate from DGC (last seen in Standard 3) who turned out to be Gavin’s cousin!
Our walk back to Notting Hill station took us back down the diverse and interesting high street (very few chain stores, and a number of places with Arabic signage indicating middle-eastern leanings) and then through some swanky suburbs and lastly into the retail districts of Notting Hill with all of its imaginative and offbeat shops.
