The designer Bella Freud waxes lyrical over a relaxed, elegant lunch with a fabulous friend
Dove, 31 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU (020 7043 1400; dove.london). Starters £4-£16; mains £12-£33; wine from £35
I am a potentially dull person to eat with. However much I love and relish food, food is not my friend and I have a host of verbotens, ranging from garlic, onion and chives, which for me are headache-inducing, to butter, which I have always hated. Each meal in a new restaurant where I’m not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the menu begins, “Do you have anything without garlic?” My meal might end up seeming plain to an onlooker, but this plainness divulges so many nuanced flavours – a grilled chop floods my nervous system with relaxing endorphins. The pleasure of eating something that agrees with me is in itself a huge delight.
