红满天川菜火锅店 and Spamalot

Visited Spamalot with Chris and Dave. Before going, we went for a meal, and decided to try Red and Hot on Charing Cross Road. The interior is smart, and the place was full. We were the only white people there, usually a good sign. Three Tsing Tao beers, and then we were ordering:

* Husband and Wife's Pork Lung Slices (cold, bizarrely a beef dish)
* Shredded Pork with Chives (Token non-spicy dish for Dave)


Husband and Wife Lung Slices with Pork behind

* Fantastic Potato with Dry Chilli & Peppers (this was fantastic)
* Ma Po Tofu
* Sliced Beef Sichuan Style Lavishly Topped with Chilli & Sichuan Pepper (three chillis on their spice scale, a corker of a dish!)


Beef

* Da na noodles
* Rice

It was hot and tasty, though they were a little sparing with their Sichuan Peppers. The TimeOut review says they temper for non-Chinese people, so make sure you specify you want it authentic!



Download their menu from the website in pdf format - there's some good stuff on there - Fire Exploded Kidney Flowers anyone?! We all tucked in but unfortunately were in a rush to get to the theatre so ended up eating at an obscene pace. Not a good idea with food this hot.



By the end all three of us were perspiring away as we grabbed our coats and rushed for the door with one minute till performance!

Spamalot


Spamalot has been on my list of things to see for a long time - I seem to recall it opened the week I left on my RTW trip, so it was good to finally see it, especially as I believe it's closing this winter.


The Knights who Say "Ni" make an appearance

In the posters it is described as being the show that was "lovingly" ripped off from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and so it is - following the film's story broadly, with a few Python songs from other works thrown in, such as "Always Look on the Bright Side" which Dave was singing on the loo this morning.


Rather fetching maidens

The cast were all very good, with lovely supporting ladies, and Arthur played well by Sanjeev Bhaskar, i.e. the chap from the Kumars at No.42 and Goodness Gracious Me. Although he was about two feet shorter than everyone else on stage, making his kiss with Gwenyvere look a bit awkward!


Are there any Jews in the audience?!

The show was a partial send-up of other musicals, with song lyrics like "There's always a dueeet like this, with the couple singing passionately" etc etc. It was moderately amusing, particularly in the second half when we'd squeezed in some half-time refreshment across the road, but overall I have to say I was a little disappointed. I wouldn't go again, although I still think it was worth seeing once.


Brave, Brave Sir Robin