Happy mannikin

Tonight was one of my chew-and-chat nights with my mate Tom. It was my turn to choose the restaurant, but I was so busy last week that any time I thought of contacting anywhere it was either before the phone was manned or it was too late at night. So I was in a bit of a panic on Tuesday when I still hadn't anywhere confirmed. So I did a bit of the one-stone-two-birds thing, and combined meeting the potential new member for the music group with calling in on a few places around Andrew Street and Exchequer Street. Most of them laughed at me when I enquired about a table for the Friday before Christmas, until The Cedar Tree said Yes.

I wasn't sure if Tom would like the choice (it was really a bit of a desperation booking), but he was surprisingly enthusiastic when I told him where we were going. As it happened, it was one of our better experiences. The décor and atmosphere are brilliant (even the belly dancer bit isn't overdone), the staff couldn't have been nicer, and the food was very, very good. A definite thumbs up.

Our booking wasn't until 9.00, and it took a while before our table was ready, so it was quite late by the time we finished. Naturally, since it's so close, we went on to our favourite little Japanese bar on Exchequer Street, where we solved all the world's problems. I got the 4.00 am NiteLink home.

The blip? I spotted this shop window in Temple Bar as I walked across town from the bus stop.