Shellfish

The mise en bouche at our local restaurant. It's getting increasingly chichi -- it now has a rosette in the Michelin guide which means the chef can afford to take time off and pay a sous-chef to do the work. Sadly, it's not quite as good as it used to be, and the waiter spent literally half an hour chatting to the couple who arrived in a Porsche. It's still very sparsely patronised ... us, plus the Porsche couple, and the family of the sous-chef (and three front of house staff!). On a warm Friday evening in June  -- we'd have liked to sit outside, but the waiter ludicrously claimed it had rained and they'd brought all the tables in -- which we knew was not true, because, well, we live here. Such is gentrification.