Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

Around this time last year, Zachy had his first sleepover at Yiayia’s house while the Greek God(zilla) whisked me 20-mins up the road to the Richmond Hill Hotel for a bit of R&R.

Zachy loved his stay with Yiayia so much that a whole year later, we decided to let him have another sleep over and booked ourselves back into the Richmond Hill Hotel again.

The hotel is fine.  The rooms are clean, the location suits us well and there is an on-site pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi.  It’s also a great opportunity to take a night off from being Mummy & Daddy and spend some time just being us – with the added benefit of being able to sleep-in past 6.15am and make use of all the hotel facilities.

Last year, we had been to lunch with Uncle George before checking in and was definitely edging a bit on the tipsy side.  We’d arrived at the hotel, dropped off our bags and headed straight back out to the pub, followed by a walk along the river and a curry at the end of the night.

The curry house we stumbled into was called the Taj Mahal and it didn’t look like much from the outside but the food was sensational.  We had a great time, drank Kingfisher beer and stuffed our faces.

This year, we decided to head straight to the hotel after dropping Zachy off with Yiayia, to make the most of the gorgeous March sunshine.

Walking into the town centre, we passed the Taj Mahal where we had dined so happily in the year before and noticed that it had had a bit of makeover since we last visited.

A bit of a make-over is actually a bit of an understatement.

The walls had been painted bright red and the light bulbs had been cranked up a few hundred watts.  It certainly looked more modern, but at first glance I would have assumed from the outside that it was a bar or a club.

‘Don’t think we’ll be eating there again tonight’ we giggled to each other as we continued on our merry way.

I do not know if you have ever walked into Richmond on a Saturday night, but it is bustling with people.

Young couples and groups of friends were spilling out of the riverside pubs flush faced and clinking bottles of rosé.  Families were spread out on the grass with picnic blankets and ice buckets.

Richmond is POSH.  From the magnificent housing to gorgeous boutiques, beautiful pubs and endless restaurants.

Sadly, we could not get a reservation in any of them.

We followed two young gentlemen, at their suggestion to be clear, to Gaucho.  We thought that Gaucho would be a safe bet, but they were not even able to fit us in for over 2 hours… and I had really hoped to be asleep in 2 hours.

Walking back and forth we could not find one establishment that was not filled to the brim with diners enjoying delicious meals.  Even GBK had them queuing out the door.

There was one place that still looked quite empty though.  At 7.30pm, the Taj Mahal was not expecting its regular clientele for a few more hours yet.

But, it was so red, so so bright and I was wearing my new cerise pink jeans.

‘Do you have the same chef as last year’ the Greek God(zilla) asked as he lent inside the doorway.

When the waiter confirmed that the same chef who had cooked us the delicious meal last year was still working at the restaurant, we stepped inside and was offered our choice of table.

I covered my cerise pink legs with a white table napkin and ordered the most delicious curry I have ever tasted.

It was even better than I remember it being last year.

We chatted, ate too much and had just a couple of drinks.

The Greek God(zilla) lent into me at one point, took my hand in his and whispered softly across the table ‘I can really see how grey your hair is under this flourescent lighting, love’

And who said romance is dead once you have kids.

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5 Comments

    • Grenglish
      Author
      March 27, 2012 / 11:31 AM

      Gourmet Burger Kitchen… they are everywhere in London. Posh burgers 🙂

  1. March 28, 2012 / 9:33 AM

    HAHA! Love your clashing jeans with the deco. We have a place in Barnes (although live in Leeds) and spent our recent London trip in Richmond. Love it there. Must try the Taj Mahal next time.

  2. April 7, 2012 / 11:50 PM

    Ah, this made me laugh muchos – glad you had a fun time on my home turf. In fact, I tried to tweet you to say swing by the Green if you were in town in the afternoon as we were there and could have said hi – but then later I realised that the tweet hadn’t sent, so sorry about that if you thought I’d gone quiet. Anyway, glad you had a fab time – we should organise a night out in Richmond with you + the Greek God(zilla), me + Richmond Daddy some time would be fun! xx

    • Grenglish
      Author
      April 8, 2012 / 11:30 AM

      Yes defo, that will be muchos fun! Did not even give it a second thought about the tweet so don’t worry xx

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