A revolution to the routine

It was time again for Lisa and I to meet up. She was celebrating a bit of a windfall and I have been feeling so thoroughly bored and fed up I just needed to get out the house.

We met outside the council house although Lisa's bus was running late because of road works so I had a good half hour to wait. When the bus finally arrived we went straight round to a pub we went to a while ago called the Standard to sit up on their roof terrace. You get a great view of Derby from there.
We sat chatting for over an hour and downed a couple of pints each.


We moved on to a bar in the marketplace called Santanda that has tables outside so you can sit and watch the world go by.

While we were sat chatting an immigrant came and asked if we wanted to buy a gold chain. It felt like we were sat in some foreign country.

It started getting chilly so we moved onto somewhere we could sit inside. We were going to have a drink in Jimmy's but were told they were closing as they only open 12-4 every day. So we left.
As we walked past the Revolution bar we saw that it was empty so Lisa suggested we go in there.
It was a nice refreshing change to the usual Wetherspoons pubs. There was music playing but it wasn't intrusive. Lisa treated us to a bottle of wine which they serve you at the table. The staff were very polite and we stayed in there for about an hour. I loved the comfortable leather seats as we sat next to the window. It is great to break the routine and go to new places once in a while. It made it special too as I said Lisa was celebrating.


When we did move on we went to the Wardwick tavern. This is mostly known as a football pub as when there is a big game on they are packed in tight to watch on the big screens. When there isn't football it is mostly empty and they have MTV playing on the screens. I found it hilarious that as we were stood there at the bar it was Cribs starring Shaggy!
We sat at the back of the bar on the comfy leather sofa.

After a while we were quite inebriated but very hungry so we went in search of food. First we thought Pizza would be nice so went to Frankie's but left in disgust at the high prices. It certainly has changed since the last time I went there.
We ended up wandering down Friar gate in search of good food. Lisa wanted to take me to Pierre Victoire but you had to book ahead and they had no tables until 10pm. Then we found a little restaurant called Graze that were doing a 3 course meal for £13.95 so Lisa said she would treat me to a meal in there.

WOW! I have never heard of this place before but it was fantastic. I had the Goat's cheese Wonton for starter (I was supposed to be staying off Chinese) I wish I had though as it wasn't all that nice. I should have had something lighter.
For my main course though I chose the 10oz Flat Iron steak with Bernaise sauce. When it came it was heavenly. Of course I had a dilemma when she asked how I wanted it done but I said Medium and this was perfect.
The big chunky chips were gorgeous and although Lisa couldn't finish her's I was going to eat every last morsel.
For dessert there was only one choice and that was the Chocolate and Bailey's mousse which was the most gorgeous dessert I have ever tasted. I really felt I had died and gone to heaven. It was truly Divine. I didn't want it to end. It was actually quite sickly though so the portion you get is enough to be going on with. I would definitely go back for more today.

The staff in Graze were wonderful. There only seemed to be 2 waitresses on but they had it covered and they were polite and cheerful and if they were stressed they didn't show it.
We left the restaurant at around 9pm feeling full and happy (and still very drunk!)

We parted company and Lisa went to get her bus and I walked the short walk home.

I walked in the front door to the final whistle on the Rams match against Preton and Derby had won 1-0 so maybe I should go out more often when they are playing.