Bravo...

What a nice weekend that was and there is no holding up this week either.

Had a rather nice day yesterday over at the Penta hotel in Reading. It's of course a shame that Reading FC didn't win their match but I'm not sure our little party would have picked up any more if they had of done such was the awful weather.

There were a few people there however including some ex Reading players and it's always a great time when I get to share the music honours with my good buddy Kevin.

I really do think there is potential at the Penta for a Saturday evening party. Nothing major perhaps 7pm until 11:30pm to cater for those who want to just come out and be able to have a drink and listen to some good quality music before getting home at a decent time. For the size of the bar area there isn't anything like it in Reading so I think they should give it a go, it'll probably take a while to get it going but if they stick at it I can easily see 100+ people in there. Would be a useful pre-party venue too for some of the clubs in town.

We finished up there at about 9pm and I really wanted a Burrito from The Mission but it shut at 9pm so I just missed out and had to settle for a KFC instead. I did think about going to sit down and eat somewhere nice but I was just too tired.

Felt a bit sicky this morning but work soon took my mind off of that and I've been fairly productive which is good because I have a half day booked off tomorrow as I've been invited to the Eat Reading opening gala lunch at the Hilton in Reading. Five of the towns top chefs and cooks are providing the food and I'm particularly looking forward to seeing what Alan Murchison comes up with. Of course with him being the towns only Michelin starred restaurateur (L'ortolan) my expectations are high.

I've also been asked if I wouldn't answering a few questions after the meal which could be quite scary given the audience but I better get used to it I suppose cause there will be plenty more of that to come at the food festival on Saturday & Sunday.

I purchased another domain name today which will be an add on to my www.benzagorski.com website. This one is for restaurant reviews and discussions. The site is www.talktables.com (thanks DW). Still to be set up but I'm hoping that I can get some tie ins and offers for the site visitors.

One restaurant I've always liked in town is Strada (Cucina Italiana) and they will be the folks I'll be introducing to the Town Hall stage for Eat Reading Live at 12:30 on Saturday. They are a big restaurant chain who operate around 90 outlets in the UK. Big chains like this often get snubbed simply because of what they are but I've always found the menu at Strada very true to the authentic Italian cuisine I remembered from my time spent living in Rome and that sets it apart from the others in my opinion.

I've not been in there for a while though and with the opening of Jamie's Italian just along the Riverside I should expect that they have had to up the game even more and I'm looking forward to seeing what they create and how they view the business competition. Standards are beginning to slip at Jamie's and I'm not hearing many positive comments of late so maybe it's Strada's chance to seize the initiative.