Magic Monday at Americana

Back to London, and tonight, I was back with CT for Magic Monday at Americana! This is a magic show, which I can't even see advertised on their website - but anyway, the booking fee is discounted from dinner, so this sounded good!

As you head up Haymarket - from the Trafalgar Square direction - it's just past the Theatre Royal, on the right-hand-side. My goodness though, I had to wait something like five minutes to cross Pall Mall, what with the traffic! Never mind, I had time to kill.. but despite the dire warnings not to arrive too early, they didn't seem to mind at all when I rocked up, five minutes before time.

It's a lovely, cosy venue - and service was excellent throughout. Reading the blurb on the table, I discovered they celebrated their first anniversary last week! No wonder I hadn't heard of them. Anyway, the deal I was on is excellent - but you have to be signed up to avail of it. 10% off the a la carte, plus a free glass of prosecco, or a fixed price menu for £35 instead of £45 - which includes a drink! which can be anything on the menu. So I had a Margarita, first time in years.

The fixed price menu includes most of the main one, so I was fine with it. I had the soup to start - mushroom and chestnut - piping hot, very good. For main, I had the chicken - which came with whiskey sauce, but the BBQ glaze was so good, I didn't bother with the sauce! Ditto the excellent chips, which would just have been spoiled by the addition of sauce. It was all lovely - but with American portions, I only managed about half. I still had ice cream - a good choice; they give you three scoops, of which I had two chocolate and one "salted caramel and chocolate" - which, to be fair, was a bit salty, so I didn't mind leaving half. And after my Margarita, I decided I was wiser to stick with wine - they have an Argentinian (unusually) Sauvignon Blanc, which frankly, was a bit insipid, and costs £15. But considering the excellent deal I got on the rest, I said I'd splurge.

Now, this was dinner with an "up-close" magic show - he goes table to table, and despite my ticket saying things kicked off at 7.30, he didn't arrive until after 8. And, sure enough, he goes by table size - so he starts at the larger tables, then moves down to the couples. He passed me a couple of times, completely obliviously - it was obvious he was going to leave singles to last, and sure enough, with only two tables of singles, we'd both left before he finished with the couples. (She was sitting beside me, I could see.) Having said that, he seemed really good - it's a shame I didn't get to see much, but I did see one trick that he performed for the table across the way - and which was very impressive. Hey-ho, he seems to come every Monday, and you have been warned - don't come alone! If you do, you'll get fed, but are unlikely to get the show..

So yes, highly recommended. But the other caveat is - arrive hungry! Anyway, I was too well-fed, but at very good value - made my way home very carefully. And do you know, Google Maps has developed an annoying habit of constantly recalculating my route! I choose a particular route, only to find, if I look again on the way, that Google Maps has a new suggestion. Exhausting, frankly..

Tomorrow, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for An Enemy of the People, at the Duke of York's Theatre - got the very last cheap ticket for this from London Box Office!

On Wednesday, back with CT again - and back to Backyard Comedy at last! This is for Joke Thieves, where people tell each others' jokes.. Gee, it's weeks since I've been there, it'll be good to be back.

And on Thursday, I have a Crick Crack Club event.. this is online from the Oxford Story Museum, and is Dark Tales from the Wood. As told by the excellent Daniel Morden. But as that'll be available for a week afterwards, I'm free to do something else on the evening itself - and with that being my usual day in the office, it's handy that London Social and Cultural Meetups are doing something around the corner. It's a public lecture about homelessness..