A is for Arlo......

It should have been Avanti, it may have been curry at The Ahar, but a journey of one hundred steps begins with Arlo, exciting I know....

Arlo (36-38 Brentwood Ave, West Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3DH) was not suggested by Sarah Sutherland. She said I should try Avanti, but I was off, it was the afternoon and my stomach was rumbling. To make up for swerving the recommendation, please check out Sarah's Facebook page - Streetdoodler - for amazing building portraits, even if she won't draw the Sage Gateshead for me due to it being modern, curvy and shiny.

I forgot my mobile phone, a pre-requisite of the lone diner. You can pretend you are in an important business meeting, keep checking it for your imaginary dining companion to arrive, or just kill time surfing the internet. Instead, I was forced to people watch and truly embrace the fact that I was dining out properly for the first time in eighteen months. The latter aspect was quite thought-provoking; lockdown has taken away many things which make up the fabric of our lives - sitting in a buzzing restaurant as the waitress says to me, 'Watch out, the plate is hot' is one of the things I've missed the most.

Food - I had the steak sandwich with parmesan and rosemary fries. It's an 8oz minute steak in toasted sourdough with onion jam, smoked garlic aioli, salami and melted, melting, melty gruyere cheese. I'm not convinced a sandwich can be made with sourdough. You dislocate your jaw trying to eat it.... but stick a steak in it and get given a really, really sharp knife and it works a treat. Steak in a sarnie can be more texture than taste, especially with all of the accompaniments, but this was really well cooked and... sorry I can't bring myself to say it melted in the mouth, I'm not a food blogger. It was accompanied with Aspall's organic cider. You could tell it was organic, cider was spelled with a Y.

Place - out of all the retro, nic-nac, Alpine themed restaurants I've been to, Arlo was my favourite retro, nic-nac, Alpine themed restaurant so far. Staff were smiley beneath their masks and the clientele wasn't too Jesmondy.

Score - an aioliisn'tsimplymayonnaisetastic 80%

The place I had for B appears to have closed down... any suggestions gratefully received.