The Cafe Amaranth

The Cafe Amaranth

The house where I was living, on the edge of Wimbledon Common, served its basic purpose for sleeping and taking a shower etc. but, as it was shortly due to be renovated, it didn't have a functional kitchen. I like my food and I am prepared to experiment with my cooking, so I decided to buy an electric wok, a dual ring electric hob and a whole load of Chinese ingredients. However, I soon got very bored with Chinese food – I really didn’t like it very much – so I had to find a solution.

It had been many years since I had lived in London permanently and nearly everyone that I had known had moved away and so, as I had a few quid in my pocket for a change, I decided to indulge myself and seek out a wide variety of reasonably priced restaurants where I could eat my real favourite – Thai cuisine.

Churchills

Wandsworth, where the office was based, is well served by public transport and although I frequently visited Churchills, which I had discovered during a previous stay, I took advantage of the long summer evenings and, by foot, bus and tube, I explored many of the adjoining areas in south-west London.

Although outside my strict search criteria, I spent many an evening at the Hare & Tortoise in Putney, enjoying the Japanese and similar Asian food – particularly the ramen - and the sake too. However, it mustn’t be forgotten that this was London and, although the proprietor and waiting staff would happily chat with me during quiet nights, most of the time I just kept my own company, because I knew that it just wasn’t the done thing to talk with strangers. 

Various Thai restaurants and noodle bars

It was therefore a really pleasant surprise when, one evening, I went to the Cafe Amaranth in Earlsfield, one of my new discoveries. On this particular Friday, the restaurant was just about full and even my usual quiet spot, a table for one in the window, had been taken. With the only free space being a table for four right in the middle of the restaurant, which was occupied by a younger couple, I could easily have felt a bit of a lemon and very uncomfortable.

However, we had all been eyeing up each other’s food as each steaming dish arrived one after another on our table and it just seemed natural to strike up a conversation. The woman was from Buenos Aires in Argentina and the man was from Seville in Spain and I just can’t recall their names now or any details of what we talked about. However, I clearly remember that they told me that they had been living in London for 6 months and that, outside of work, I was the first person that they had known who was prepared to talk to them!