A grown up night out
Taking advantage of the temporary absence of the kids we decided to have a nice grown up night out. No spur of the moment mind you, but a planned ahead enterprise.
Step number one, select a good movie to see. As you can imagine that was my task. No problem, with the help of my two favorite websites, www.belbios.nl and www.rottentomatoes.com the choice was made in less than twenty minutes.
The chosen movie played in town at 18:50, so plenty of time to get off work, drive to town buy a considerable supply of popcorn and relax in the movie theater chair.
Step number two was to choose a place to eat, as you can imagine this too was my task. The plan was that after the movie we would grab a bite in a not too pretentious restaurant in the neighborhood of the cinema.
The choice had gone to Wok and Go, unpretentious establishment serving quite tasty Asian food just a short walk away from the cinema.
The movie was good, nothing exceptional but definitely an acceptable combination of humor, drama and romance for a mid season Monday evening. I did not really agree with the ending but I could get over it relatively fast.
After the movie ended, that was when the evening started to become adventurous. Quite conspicuous cranes were hanging about the building hosting our restaurant of choice, suspicious....very suspicious. Upon closer inspection the building proved to be empty and under total refurbishment. OK, no panic we had a back up option. Italian trattoria Mangiare a typical favorite of unpretentious dining (by now you must know that the one thing for which I do not require sophistication but just good taste is dining out), some fifteen minutes walk away.
Nice evening stroll we thought, it will do us nothing but good. By the time we had crossed the deserted center of town and we had reached the new destination it was about 21:15. The restaurant was nicely lit and well attended. Good choice I said to my husband lets go in.
Nobody came to welcome us at the door, suspicious......very suspicious. A teenage looking bar tender asked us if we were there for eating. Quite an odd question in a restaurant, don't you think?
It caught us a bit by surprise. "Yes" we mumbled not really convinced about the purpose of the question. I am sorry the guy replied, the kitchen is closed. What?!?!?! A quarter past freaking nine and the kitchen is already closed!?!?! They must be kidding me.
My disbelief was as material as physical perspiration. Unable to recover fast enough I had to be pushed out by my husband who was clearly less flabbergasted than myself.
What am I doing in this provincial hell hole I kept asking myself for the next five minutes, until the practical question of finding an alternative establishment where to eat kicked in.
By then finding another location had become a hopeless affair so we had to retort to our usual backup plan when we are in a hurry. Fast food!
As pure protest against backward provincial dutch society I decided to go to the local Turkish establishment (you might have heard of the recent tension between Dutch and Turkish government). Let's give Turkish economy a little boost I thought.
By the way Turkish kebab joints are among the only places where you can eat veal in this country, another strong reason to go there. And there we went.
So there it was, the grown up night out. A tamely good movie and Turkish fast food, just a glimpse of family life in rural Eindhoven.
Step number one, select a good movie to see. As you can imagine that was my task. No problem, with the help of my two favorite websites, www.belbios.nl and www.rottentomatoes.com the choice was made in less than twenty minutes.
The chosen movie played in town at 18:50, so plenty of time to get off work, drive to town buy a considerable supply of popcorn and relax in the movie theater chair.
Step number two was to choose a place to eat, as you can imagine this too was my task. The plan was that after the movie we would grab a bite in a not too pretentious restaurant in the neighborhood of the cinema.
The choice had gone to Wok and Go, unpretentious establishment serving quite tasty Asian food just a short walk away from the cinema.
The movie was good, nothing exceptional but definitely an acceptable combination of humor, drama and romance for a mid season Monday evening. I did not really agree with the ending but I could get over it relatively fast.
After the movie ended, that was when the evening started to become adventurous. Quite conspicuous cranes were hanging about the building hosting our restaurant of choice, suspicious....very suspicious. Upon closer inspection the building proved to be empty and under total refurbishment. OK, no panic we had a back up option. Italian trattoria Mangiare a typical favorite of unpretentious dining (by now you must know that the one thing for which I do not require sophistication but just good taste is dining out), some fifteen minutes walk away.
Nice evening stroll we thought, it will do us nothing but good. By the time we had crossed the deserted center of town and we had reached the new destination it was about 21:15. The restaurant was nicely lit and well attended. Good choice I said to my husband lets go in.
Nobody came to welcome us at the door, suspicious......very suspicious. A teenage looking bar tender asked us if we were there for eating. Quite an odd question in a restaurant, don't you think?
It caught us a bit by surprise. "Yes" we mumbled not really convinced about the purpose of the question. I am sorry the guy replied, the kitchen is closed. What?!?!?! A quarter past freaking nine and the kitchen is already closed!?!?! They must be kidding me.
My disbelief was as material as physical perspiration. Unable to recover fast enough I had to be pushed out by my husband who was clearly less flabbergasted than myself.
What am I doing in this provincial hell hole I kept asking myself for the next five minutes, until the practical question of finding an alternative establishment where to eat kicked in.
By then finding another location had become a hopeless affair so we had to retort to our usual backup plan when we are in a hurry. Fast food!
As pure protest against backward provincial dutch society I decided to go to the local Turkish establishment (you might have heard of the recent tension between Dutch and Turkish government). Let's give Turkish economy a little boost I thought.
By the way Turkish kebab joints are among the only places where you can eat veal in this country, another strong reason to go there. And there we went.
So there it was, the grown up night out. A tamely good movie and Turkish fast food, just a glimpse of family life in rural Eindhoven.
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