Mousetrap

Some week's ago, happening to pass St. Martin's Theatre, near my regular Seven Dials cheese shop, I thought it time to go to the Mousetrap, out of respect for our large consumption of Agatha drama on ITV3. I had never been, while BH had been a couple of times, a long time ago, when it was still at the Ambassadors. Very pleasant young lady in the wooden box which did service for the box office, who got pleasanter by the second as she learned that I wanted good seats rather than bad seats. I also learned that this theatre is one of the few in the West End which have not been bought up by one of the big theatre companies.

St. Martin's Theatre

A dry, pleasant enough day so we thought we would walk from Waterloo for the 1600 start with the intention of taking light refreshment somewhere before the off. As usual, spoilt for choice, which meant we found it hard to make the choice, with another excuse being that we wanted tea rather than coffee.

But we did learn that the Chippendales (the carpenters rather than the strippers) once had premises in St. Martin's Lane, more or less opposite what is the Noël Coward Theatre and what was the Albery Theatre, now marked by a plaque.

The Chippendales

Computer place

We eventually settled for the café in what was CTS House in Monmouth Street, across the road from the only Rossopomodoro which I know of outside of John Lewis. A place which I have noticed before, notice which I intend to track down in slow time - having learned so far that some of Google's StreetView is done at night, which is not great. So the snap above comes from Microsoft's Streetside, about the same age as what you get in StreetView, that is to say before the present people were there, but easier on the eyes. While on the afternoon in question the place was full of young people beavering away on their laptops, not apparently doing much spending or consuming. How does the place keep going? How can they carry so many different sorts of coffee? We had to sit outside, and after a bit of a wait our tea turned up, two varieties in two pots and very good it was too; the best tea we have had out for a while. But they were let down by the cinnamon bun, which was rather dry, not to say stale.

On into the theatre, which was delightfully retro. Lots of brown wood, some probably fake, all probably dating from when the place was built, just before the First World War. See references 1 and 2.

Ash tray

They even had ash trays built into the walls, and some of them did not have little covers to stop you using them. No ashtrays on the backs of the seats though, cinema fashion, and it sticks in my mind that theatres banned smoking in the chamber a long time ago.

The letter from the Palace

And we had what looked like the original of a thankyou letter from the Palace in a frame on the wall.

Brown wood

The chamber was about two thirds full downstairs, for this Saturday matinée. We wondered why the French call afternoon shows morning shows. We had paid a premium to sit at the front of the second block of stalls, but it was well worth it. Easy to get in and out and plenty of leg room. Cheerful couple next to us on holiday from San Francisco.

Lots of brown wood pillars and brown wood trim, some of which I suspected of being painted plaster, or even painted papier-maché, which I believe was regularly used for such purposes a hundred years ago, about the time that this theatre was built. The set, an interior in a large house (rather than a country house) also involved lots of fancy brown wood, with a lot of it in this case just being no more than a paint job. As far as that went, very much a domestic version of the Kensington Palace of a few weeks ago, noticed at reference 5.

It might not have been a country house, but it was a country house murder, with a lot of suspects holed up in a house in a snow storm. All very satisfactory, with a neat but reasonably simple plot, not involving as many diversions - not to say perversions - as they seem to find necessary in the murder mysteries they write for television now.

Older males were good, with these last only being let down a bit, to my mind, by the younger male, although he did get a laugh by appearing at a window looking rather like an Eskimo. Females good, and I was very much taken with the female lead, one Emily Plumtree. And there were some fun gymnastics involving chairs from Joel Macey.

Out at around 1800 to find streets very busy and including one large guided party of youngish people which seemed to be dancing its way through the streets of Covent Garden, lead by an enthusiastic lady guide. Restaurants in the area all pretty full, so we made our way across the river to try our luck at the Côte Brasserie outside the main entrance to the Festival Hall. Without a booking we had to wait half an hour, but that was not too painful as we found that the coffee bar on the river side of the Festival Hall was licensed and so I was able to start the proceeding there - and watch all the young people rushing about, some dressed rather high. We also took a polenta spongy thing with a good dose of syrup to keep us going. A sort of proletarian version of the Maids of Honour which are no longer available at Hampton Court Palace.

The wine

Bread and saucisson sec to start, with bread much better than average and sausage good. Green salad good. After which BH did the mussels and I did the chicken and chips. A half chicken which turned out to have been rolled rather flat, rather in the way of Peking Duck. It came with some garlic butter on the side, some of which I actually used for once. Entirely satisfactory.

Wine a 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé from the people at reference 6, from whom I learn that there are two Pouilly's: one in the Loire and one in the Bourgogne. Not to be confused. This one being in the Mâconnais in Bourgogne (aka Burgundy). Wine good. Calvados to follow good.

Waiter, unusually, from Chicago, no longer very young. We got the impression that he was a professional waiter, wandering around the western world. A few years here, a few years there. In his case, next stop was Vancouver.

Picked up an Economist at Waterloo and so home.

PS: later: the café with the tea has now been tracked down to references 3 and 4. And if it is the place at reference 4, we are clearly far too old and far too old-speak. They would probably think I was a bit peculiar for wanting my own office, with a door. Indeed, casting my mind back, perhaps they were politely suggesting that we went elsewhere when we arrived.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Martin's_Theatre.

Reference 2: https://uk.the-mousetrap.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/12/braces.html.

Reference 4: https://tyuk.com/locations/ty-seven-dials/. 'TY Seven Dials has been capturing the imagination of tea and coffee lovers and nomadic workers alike since it opened in January 2014. We aim to provide an inspiring environment for people to work more effectively and provide a space for creative people to come together'.

Reference 5: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/kensington-palace.html.

Reference 6: http://saumaize-michelin.com/index.php/en/presentation-en/. Right place, but weak website. Maybe one needs to go to Facebook. On the other hand, Waitrose will deliver a 'Saumaize-Michelin Pouilly Fuissé Clos Sur la Roche Domaine 2016' at £35.58 a pop, delivery free if I order more than three. So probably a respectable brand.

Reference 7: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/02/canterbury-cooking.html. A very brief notice of our only previous visit to a Côte Brasserie.