As it’s only a few days until I release The 2021 Lloydies which are my personal Food and Drink Awards therefore I thought it would be a nice time to say Thank You to this amazing industry.
The industry has had to endure yet another tough year. But their amazing resilience has led me to enjoy another fabulous year in hospitality. The year started in lockdown yet despite this my hometown of Hornchurch kept me going with cakes from Le Moulin , beverages from the Hop Inn and many takeaways from other local establishments. The next stage was for restaurants was to open for takeaway plus allowing you to purchase Cook at Home packages. This lasted until April when pubs , restaurants and cafes were allowed to open for outside dining. With this we enjoyed some amazing experiences especially at Kerridge’s Garden Grill at the Corinthia and the Greyhound Pub in beaconfield.
It wasn’t until May when we were finally allowed to dine inside again and honestly it was good to be back even though the was still a few restrictions. We started with our great friends at Haywards before enjoying fabulous dining at Core , Da Terra and Cornerstone. This led us to the end of June where we enjoyed a fantastic long weekend at the Corinthia Hotel to celebrate our 29th anniversary. Here we experienced their amazing spa as well as dining at the Northall and Kerridge’s Bar and Grill.
So into July we went where we headed to the Norfolk coast for a fabulous midweek break at the Crown Inn Smallburgh. The following week it was back to some amazing dining at Trinity , Muse and Frog by Adam Handling. While still continuing to support hospitality industry we were still enjoying the efforts of our local eateries like Da Vinci’s , Tandoori Lounge , Sukhothai and Kervan Kitchen.
In August it was great to be able to visit three places for the first time. These were the Bailiwick Freehouse , Darjeeling Express and the Princess of Shoreditch to which we’ve already returned to two of them. We continue into September and October with more first time dining at Norma , Theo Randall , Bibi as well as an outstanding dining experience at Helene Darroze at the Connaught. Now into November and my wife’s annual birthday stay at Claridges where we had the pleasure of being on the brand new sixth floor with amazing views over London’s rooftops.
We are now in December and I’m all set to announce my food and drink awards but not before we finish with another visit to my friends at Haywards and the amazing Core by Clare Smyth.
So yes despite all the knock backs this industry goes from strength to strength. With this I would like to say a massive thank you to all the staff at every restaurant , pub , hotel , b&b , cafe , patisserie for all their efforts in making this another fabulous year enjoying the finest hospitality. A Merry Christmas to you all and look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.
My Hospitality Life 