Spamalot - Palace Theatre, Joe Allen's Pre-Theatre Dinner

A late birthday present indeed but this was the first occasion Dad could make it to London in order for us to go out. He finally made it though, 5 months late it may have been but we had Spamalot tickets and a dinner booked at Joe Allen's - a place I knew little about but where Dad had been before.
We turned up at the restaurant and it was a stylish little basement eaterie, with theatre posters on the walls and a nice refined atmosphere. There was a three course pre-theatre menu and we chose from that along with a 1/2 litre of house red.
I had goats cheese with rocket and a pecan and cranberry chutney while dad had a nice looking black bean soup. The cheese was nice, but quite filling and my main course was even more so. I went for the stuffed chicken wrapped in pancetta with lentils, it was tasty if rather brown looking and again heavier than I expected. Dad's mullet looked a lot more colourful and lighter and was full of flavour.
We went for dessert, although I would probably have been satisfied with some fruit. He had stilton and I had a mincemeat tart with Amaretto butter which was as rich as it sounds.
So after coffee we took the short walk from Covent Garden through to Charing Cross Road and Cambridge Circus where the theatre sits proudly on the corner. I was delighted to hear that our up in the Gods balcony seats had been upgraded due to poor sales and at first we thought we would be in the dress circle but soon we were in the stalls, Dad even requested an aisle seat without too much difficulty.

The show itself was quite faithful to the holy grail, with Arthur gathering his group of Knights in search of the holy grail and then having adventures on the way to finding it. The Knights who say Ni were present and correct as were Bold Sir Robin's minstrels and the dark Knight guarding the path from Arthur who ends up limbless. No Sir Galahad in the castle of Virgins unfortunately, replaced by a piece about getting to the West End and needing to find some Jews.
Guinevere stole the show really with her excellent singing voice and a part that enabled her to play the diva in a comic manner but at the same time show off her range. Arthur wasn't cast for his singing or dancing but he did put in a decent comic performance, as did his 'umble peasant bag carrier.

The show was a hoot overall, and although maybe a little short at well under two hours kept the entertainment going throughout.

Green Christmas Fair - Notting Hill

So we went along to this charity event at the 20th Century Theatre on Sunday as an opportunity to a) support a good cause in the Cambodian Trust that the £2 entrance fee went towards, and b) to see whether we could find any ethical Christmas gifts for family or friends.

It was a nice enough little event, in an impressive old building, but there wasn't much on offer that really grabbed our attention. I liked the look of the handmade Cactus lights made of banana leaf thread and old plastic tags, as my other half said though - not sure entirely how eco these were, using presumably fairy lights on the inside.
There were some organic wines, a climate change calendar and eco-knickers as well as Christmas decorations and various other bits and bobs. All very worthy but at the end of the day, overpriced for what you were getting in most cases - which is nearly always the way with this stuff.

Wandering round Notting Hill afterwards though it is a nice area and Portobello road has all sorts of interesting vintage fashion and antique shops even on a Sunday when the market is all packed up.
Sheltering from the rain that swept in later we found ourselves in the Prince Albert, an attractive pub but I wouldn't recommend the roasts, they don't know how to cook roast potatoes apparently...