Baker Street, 11:30 am. Tuesday the 17th of November 2019. Bill’s restaurant. We had the pancakes with bacon, drenched in maple syrup and washed down with a flagon of freshly squeezed orange juice. The ultimate in comfort food, which is exactly why brunch is our favourite meal – socially acceptable to eat whatever the hell you want and dispense with any notions of a more healthy breakfast/lunch because you’re combining two meals into one.
This was the last time we ventured out for brunch to Bill’s in a pre-COVID world. Naturally, we’ve ventured out for brunch since then, as well as every other meal you could think of but, that now feels like an awfully long time ago. Far longer than October of 2020.
We want our brunch! We want to drink mimosas at less acceptable times of the day. We want to get back to client lunches and staff trips to the pub after work.
Here are all our reasons we should all be excited about eating out again.
A Chance To Reconnect
We have seen ourselves go to all kinds of lengths to both maintain and form new connections during the last year. Family quizzes on Zoom were done to the death. Virtual pub nights were one of our staples every week. Walks in just about every public setting have been had. All possible options for socially distanced dates have been exhausted.
We know some relationships are harder to maintain than others. Everyone has someone in their life who is extra cautious about meeting up, just as everyone probably has that one friend who pushes the boundaries for common sense a little bit too far. Walks, Zoom sessions and the like, are just not going to cut it with everyone in our lives.
This is exactly why the resumption of outdoor dining and wining is the exact reason why we need to make the most of this opportunity to reconnect. It doesn’t matter how socially distanced you are. The intimacy and atmosphere of being able to share the same space (sort of) with someone else we know, is such a wonderful part of human relationships, which we have sorely missed.
Yes, we can’t always guarantee the weather or, the quality of the time we spend or even, who we might be spending it with. But the option for reconnecting whilst sharing a meal is going to be there and we can’t wait to seize that opportunity!
A Chance To Indulge
We no longer love cooking at home. We are tired of channelling our inner Gordon Ramsay or indulging in takeaways far more than at any other point in our lives. It’s now once again, time to appreciate the finer things in life, starting with some fine dining.
What’s your definition of fine dining? Are you a Michelin muncher, lunching on the regular at spots like Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea and Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham? Maybe you’re a fan of fusion and a trip to the likes of Amazonico for an evening exploring exciting combinations is your palates preference.
Either way, you shouldn’t be afraid to give in to your desire to indulge in the finer things to eat. We’ve spent all these months cooped up without the chance to enjoy the most exceptional cooking skills that are available to us. Why not go out and indulge ourselves senseless on whatever choice conception the chef’s plating up!
A Word About Expense
If you’re worried about your budget as undoubtedly, many people have been throughout the last year, fear not. Not everyone needs to fork out on feeding themselves in the finest eateries in the land. You can still go out and indulge yourself in as many courses as your stomach can handle. But only go where you want to and if that means skipping out on the Michelin guide, then that’s fine!
On the subject of budget, eating out anywhere is going to be of such massive importance to not only the economy but the thousands of establishments that have had their doors closed for far too long. Your meal ticket isn’t just satisfying your indulgence, it’s keeping someone in a job, paying rent, putting food on another table that isn’t yours.
The more you eat, the more you spend, the more you’re giving back to a very badly damaged sector. It isn’t charity, and it shouldn’t be something that everyone feels an obligation to do but, every time you do eat out, you’re going to be giving something back, even if you are helping yourself to some rather hearty portions at the same time!
A Chance To Rediscover Living Life More Normally
We’ve all been in this socially distanced boat together whilst the pandemic has been around. Well, that’s unless you’ve been jetting off on your private jet to the Cayman Islands and cruising around on a yacht fit for a Bond villain, in which case, you’re now dead to us. Ok, no judgement intended there, living life that way is hardly what anyone might refer to as; “normal”.
But, if you are now or, have been living this way throughout the last year then you know what, good for you! We’re happy for you and your Persian kitty with its diamond collar. But the rest of us need to get back to living our more normal lives soon and yes, going back to eating out on the regular does fall into that usage of the word.
There are various other points in engaging with each other that come from eating out. Being out in the world amongst other people and doing things that break up our day-to-day routines and provide additional sources for fulfilment are critically missing right now.
Going back to eating out isn’t just about taking any excuse to gorge ourselves silly. It’s about adding to and enriching our lives with an escape from the monotony that we would find otherwise, all-encompassing, without the option for extra social activities to break up the never-ending pattern of eat-sleep-work-repeat.
Eating out again represents a return to the normality which many of us are slowly but, surely, starting to forget. It’s been a year of constant disruptions and breaks in the cycle we have come to accept as our everyday lives. We don’t have to eat out as soon as we can just for the sake of it. But to feel like we are in some way, able to resume our lives similar to how we once did, we at least need the option to eat out.
Food For Thought?
Naturally, we understand that not everyone will feel as excited as we do about being able to eat out again. There are a lot of genuine concerns and reasons to either be cautious or perhaps, just not that bothered about eating out again. We just want to emphasise that thinking like this is absolutely fine and understandable in the current climate.
For some, when or whether we can eat out again is far less important, especially when compared to all the other formalities we are hoping to resume soon. Seeing relatives and friends by attending birthdays, funerals, weddings, hospital beds, take far greater precedence than nipping out for a bite at lunch.
We all have our own orders of priority. The way in which we resume our lives is not entirely iron-clad, in spite of the relatively inflexible schedule there is currently set out for losing lockdown. Should everyone be rushing to get brunch alongside us at the first opportunity?
Arguably no, but does that mean everyone shouldn’t be seizing any opportunity to find their way back to some level of normality? 1000% absolutely, yes.
Now, where are my pancakes?
