Because you're a lovely big old cuddly softie who's about to be even older.

BTW - Bee in bonnet time - It's Zizzi not Zizzi's, ... as in Tesco rather than Tesco's.
Aye thang ewe.

I was tempted to be somewhat less polite.

I'm just gonna be nice although it's a challenge for me
Happy Birrhday McChicken.
Enjoy ones fodder.

Why thank you everyone - and its decided, the winner of the "where shall we go for my birthday dinner" combined with the "where shall we also go for our 30th wedding anniversary" competition is ... Cattlemens in Harrogate.

The question is do I go for the 72oz steak or shall I leave a little room for a pudding ?

Wow, I hadn't realised it was still there.
I was last in there in about 1991 and there was a hugely rotund chap at an adjacent table who looked to me convincingly like a big eater, who was having a go at the 72 ouncer with chips and salad, all free gratis if you ate it in all in an hour.

Anyway, the steak arrived, it was the size of a breeze block.
Long story short, he paced himself and ploughed on and on and on like a true Yorkshireman in dogged pursuit of a free meal ... but could not manage the last half-kilo or so ... and, with tears in his eyes, had to put down his eatin' irons and pay for it.

I went for a 24oz (I think) T-bone, figuring that the bone would weigh a few ounces and I'd stand a chance of not needing a doggy bag.
Long story short again, nae problem.

For a multi-multi-banoffee pie man like you though, the T-bone would be little more than a mere snack-ette, an amuse-bouche, if you will.

Happy Birthday, by the way.
Hope you have a good 'un.

30 years?
Blimey, how did you break four mirrors?

Missed this comment the first time.

Yes, I'd agree, I ate there twice too (it was handy as I was staying at the Marriott around the corner).
Very busy place, popular with the younger diner and large parties of shrill, high-maintenance young women.
Menu reads well but the actual food is poor.
The place has delusions of adequacy.

El Barbudo wrote:Missed this comment the first time. Yes, I'd agree, I ate there twice too (it was handy as I was staying at the Marriott around the corner). Very busy place, popular with the younger diner and large parties of shrill, high-maintenance young women. Menu reads well but the actual food is poor. The place has delusions of adequacy. You might appreciate this then. I printed it off and sent the company a copy. The eventual reply was most apologetic and explained that they'd sent a regional rep down. He'd done some digging, got rid of the manager and organised staff training. I was offered a freebie at their place on Regent's Street, but never took it up, but I like to think of it as an example of the importance of complaining.

El Barbudo wrote:Missed this comment the first time. Yes, I'd agree, I ate there twice too (it was handy as I was staying at the Marriott around the corner). Very busy place, popular with the younger diner and large parties of shrill, high-maintenance young women. Menu reads well but the actual food is poor. The place has delusions of adequacy. You might appreciate this then. I printed it off and sent the company a copy. The eventual reply was most apologetic and explained that they'd sent a regional rep down. He'd done some digging, got rid of the manager and organised staff training. I was offered a freebie at their place on Regent's Street, but never took it up, but I like to think of it as an example of the importance of complaining.

Anyone findinb themselves in South Devon (as in South Hams, not Dally's version) would do worse than eat at The Fortescue Arms in East Allington. They keep a limited menu of 5 starters, 5 mains and 5 desserts, plus fish on the specials board, depending on what's been landed. Similarly the veg is seasonal-dependent. The young chef is a star and is rightly proud of his three times cooked chips.

I ate there twice, the john dory was superb and even though I almost never eat cod, the fish & chips was some of the best I've tasted. Even the burger (kitchen-ground beef from a local herd, topped with local bacon and cheese) was worth the £12 asking price

The Cattlemens Association in Harrogate last night was a good choice as should any restaurant that has been trading for 25 years in the same location, food very good, steaks as they should be, nothing to fault at all, good food served in a non-corporate restaurant where food is cooked to your specification, its easy to forget that this is how it should be.

One strange thing that happened last night though, we seemed to be waiting a long time to be served our starters and then between courses and yet when we left the restaurant we'd only been in there for just over two hours and it was then that I commented that if we'd been in France or Portugal where eating in a restaurant is more a social night out and the whole point of being out, then that would be considered to have been a fast food experience.

Thinking more about it our local "special meal" restaurant is a branch of the Gusto chain and we've never been there without being aware that they need your table for the next wave of diners who are arriving 60 minutes after you have sat down, we have always had very quick service in Gustos but you do get home rather early afterwards with the lasting taste of being hustled through a dining experience rather than doing it for enjoyment - all that happened last night in Cattlemens was we were left to spend the evening with them and as a side effect I didn't have that awful "full" feeling afterwards that means that you don't sleep too well that night (especially if you pig out like me).

Sometimes you need to be reminded ...

And?
We're on tenterhooks here.
Come on, spill the beans, which steak did you go for in the end?