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Lessons from the lockdown

Lessons from the lockdown #2

Several years ago, I started doing something called “Takeaway Thursday”. It’s a simple enough premise – get a different takeaway meal every Thursday evening from the local area. Several years and several houses (and one lockdown) later, I decided I should reinstate this tradition in order to bring some regularity to my week (and so that I didn’t have to cook).

While I intended to write about my Takeaway Thursday experience from last week (which I may or may not use in next week’s post), I started to make a list of all the places within a 10 minute walk which do food (either restaurant or takeaway):

Have I ever been there?Restaurant status?Takeaway/Delivery status?
The Chinese (the only Chinese now since the other one closed)YesClosed
The dodgy Indian (it’s got new management now so it may have improved)Yes (but not since the new management)Closed
The classic Indian (it doesn’t look like it’s been refurbished since the 90s)YesClosedYes
The posh Indian (used to be across the road but is now where the posh Chinese was)YesClosedYes
The expensive fish and chip shopYesClosed
The fish and chip shop restaurantYesClosedYes
The station kebab shopYesYes
The normal kebab shop (only reopened recently after it’s recent four month refurbishment – I was starting to worry, even though their poster clearly said “we will be back, do not worry, we will feed you”)Yes (but not since it was refurbished)Yes
The fried chicken takeawayYesYes
The Mediterranean restaurant (I always forget this has always done takeaway)YesClosedYes
The Thai restaurantNoClosedYes
The noodle barNoClosedYes
The Indian at the other end of the high streetNoClosedNo (I think it was doing before though)
The restaurant around the corner that possibly specialises in burgers NoClosedYes
The steak restaurantNoClosedYes
The Italian place on the hillNoClosedNot yet, but starting at the weekend
The pizza place up the hillNoClosedYes
The other Italian place on the hillYesClosedNo
The Italian chain restaurantYesClosedNo
The Italian chain restaurantYesClosedNo
The Italian chain restaurantNoClosedNo
The spicy chicken restaurantYesClosedNo
The large pub on the cornerYesClosedNo
The old heritage pubYesClosedNo
The cheap chain pubYesClosedNo
The Mediterranean restaurant that also likes to think it’s a bar/night clubYesClosedNo
The hipster place on the corner YesClosedNo
The Spanish tapas place (I thought it was more of a cafe, but it is open until late evening)NoClosedNo
The place up the steps that used to be a police stationNoClosedNo
The Italian chain restaurant round the cornerNoClosedNo
The restaurant that I can’t remember next to the Italian chain restaurant round the cornerNoClosedNo
The place that used to be the French restaurantNoClosedNo
The American dinerNoClosedNo
The chain bar that does for 2-for-1 cocktails at all timesNoClosedNo
The Irish pub opposite the stationNoClosedNo
The other Irish pub opposite the stationNoClosedNo
The burger place upstairs from the night clubNoClosedNo
The seafood place on the wrong side of the tracksNoClosedPossibly
The dessert placeNoClosedYes
The dessert place across the road from the dessert placeNoClosedYes

I’ve almost certainly missed somewhere off the list, and I’ve not included any cafes that might still do takeaway during the day. I’ve also not included the three pubs that I’ve never been to, but also don’t do food.

So what did I learn from this:

  1. There’s a lot of places to get food from within a very short distance from my house.
  2. There’s a lot more places that are still doing takeaway/delivery than I expected.
  3. I’ve got plenty of new places to try out during the lockdown.
  4. I’ve got plenty of new places to go to when things are open again.