A Day At Dobbies - fun for all the family!

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 08 Aug 2004, 20:47

Mrs Dadaist, Neo-Dadaist and yours truly decamped in the Dadamobile this aftie to the sprawling mecca that is Dobbies garden emporium. Amidst the butterflies, Koi, Wallace Arnold tour parties and ... amazingly ... plants (!) we had a lovely day out.

The weather was absolutely beautiful - same as the prom today but no wind. We figured the rest of the planet would have headed towards the Cavalcade or the prom, so we dared to be different and joined the thronging hordes of joyseeking amateur gardeners.

I had a nice baked potato with prawns and bumped into an old work colleague. Mrs Dadaist had a prawn baguette and a sprite.

Can you believe it's now possible to buy a waterfall with added smoke effect? What will the Dobbies R&D crew think of next?

We took home some commemorative Ostrich burgers and Wild Boar sausages (not shown) from the "Farm" shop.

Baby Dada slept through the whole thing, but not to fear - her daddy will not tire of telling her of her fun day out in the years to come.....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 08 Aug 2004, 21:27

Meanwhile, the Bob family went to see the Gruffallo at Adam House (recommended), caught the end of the Cavalcade, walked home as far as Meadowbank, with good intentions of going home to make macaroni cheese, and then thought 'nah' and settled instead for dinner at Karen's.

After our disappointing lunch at the Dragon Way recently, this restored our faith in what is after all one of the truly great cuisines of the world. The litmus-test sesame prawn toast was perfect, while the lobster was just sublime and a steal at Ã‚Â£15.

Karen makes all her customers feel special, the food is superb, reasonably priced and it's on a 26 bus route.

(How many more plugs do I have to give them before I get a discount?)

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 08 Aug 2004, 22:30

Bob wrote:Karen makes all her customers feel special, the food is superb, reasonably priced and it's on a 26 bus route.

I don't wish to be unkind but don't you think Karen hangs about the table too much? I find it quite intrusive.

Looks like the D's had a good day at D's. I went to the BBC and listened to some Glaswegians who must have come through to Porty for the day or maybe the weekend. How rare is that compared to the way it used to be? Obvioulsy they didn't buy anything they just sat down and smoked and discussed that they would leave 'if anybody came'. They were about 60 years old.

On the subject of Glaswegian holidaymakers, we were talking about them the other day and one guy (aged 47) can remember when the Royal Hotel was busy enough to have a Commisionaire. Anyone else remember this?

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 08 Aug 2004, 22:50

[quote="Porty
On the subject of Glaswegian holidaymakers, we were talking about them the other day and one guy (aged 47) can remember when the Royal Hotel was busy enough to have a Commisionaire. Anyone else remember this?[/quote]

Funnily enough Mr Epy and I met up with some weegie friends of ours today - through with their weans and their ginger for a day at the beach (they'd be very offended if you thought they were 60 though so there must have been more than one group on the loose!)
On the subject of the Royal, I don't remember the Commissionaire but I do remember that my Mum and Dad had their silver wedding in there. I wore a very fetching green lurex dress (well, I was only about 7

)

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 08 Aug 2004, 22:59

Bob wrote:Meanwhile, the Bob family went to see the Gruffallo at Adam House (recommended),

Is that the same company that did it a couple of years ago, do you know? We saw it and it was brilliant.

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 08 Aug 2004, 23:07

Porty, I agree re

I don't wish to be unkind but don't you think Karen hangs about the table too much? I find it quite intrusive.

Gushy people in whatever situation make me very uncomfortable!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 09 Aug 2004, 07:56

Porty, Poppy - you're right, she can be a bit OTT sometimes.

She certainly works the room and loves to chat (all night while your dinner grows cold if you give her any encouragement.)

On the other hand, the music, the decor and Karen herself combine to produce a very friendly, unpretentious and certainly unique dining experience. On balance, I think I would rather be fussed over than ignored but I might not feel the same if I was looking for a quiet, romantic table ÃƒÂ¡ deux.

What clinches it for me is the quality of the food, the friendliness of the service and the way they welcome children.

Bellybabe - I think so - Tall Stories? They are also doing a production of the Owl and the Pussycat this year, which got rave reviews in the Scotsman. We are off to see Emily and the Jabberwocky today!

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 30 Sep 2006, 18:40

Dobbies now have a butcher's counter with a fantastic selection. Obviously I'm not comparing them to our local meat merchants, but for a change - or if you're there - we got some first class flesh.

Beach Babe had pork,apple & cheese burgers, I had a peppered steak (seared and then oven cooked) which was near-perfect.

They've got loads of other stuff - chicken & garlic kebabs, chops stuffed with haggis, pigeon meat, and some cuts I've never seen before.

Yummy.