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My new best friend Aldo Zilli, invited me to accompany
him to the Theme bar and Restaurant Awards, which took place last
night at the plush Café Royal. I met up with Aldo and his friends
Anthony and Rachel and after a few glasses of wine we all headed
down to the awards.
We were ushered to the main hall before dinner for drinks and peanuts,
I was surprised to see such a young crowd, I gather it's the new
breed of restaurateurs and bar managers. My stomach was growling
so I couldn't get to my table soon enough, dinner was now being
served, quiche for starters, salmon for the main and chocolate pudding
for desert (for those who want to know!)
To my left I had the charming Aldo and to my right Red Or Dead designer
Wayne Hemingway, who I'm pleased to say has seen MyVillage.com and
has recently branched out into design, hence his presence at awards.
After our little chat I excused myself and went to the ladies were
I was mortified to see that I had green salad stuck on my tooth,
it was there the whole time I was talking and smiling away to Wayne.
(can you believe it!).
Aldo was enjoying himself ordering wine, there seemed to be a never-ending
stream coming to our table - not that anyone was complaining. Aldo
was nominated for the 'best restaurant in London' award but unfortunately
the award went elsewhere. He was scheduled to hand out an award
later that evening, however prior to that happening, whilst we were
talking about what he should say and do on stage, he told me a story
about a time when he was at another award ceremony with pal Chris
Evans.
They both decided to go awol telling everyone that they were simply
going to the toilet - it was at this time that alarm bells started
ringing.
Lighting up a cigarette, I forgot about it and was busy chatting
to Rachel and Anthony when Aldo announced he would be back soon
- just going to the loo.
Now you know what's coming next, it was just before he was due to
give out an award that I realised he had been gone a long time,
Yes Aldo had done a runner and when his name was called he was nowhere
to be seen. But it gets better than that, the waiter walked over
to me and asked me where Mr Zilli was as his bill was unpaid and
could I settle it. I said no, waited until he was out of view and
then like Aldo, did a runner! Nadia
Aldo Interview
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