Food: Pizza East

Hipster pizza ahoy! I really wanted to dislike Pizza East, but it turns out it wasn't half bad. The food itself was mixed - the garlic bread starter was uninspiring but the main itself, a veggie special, was equally spectacular. At around £15 per head it wasn't the best deal but it did just about enough for me to want to try it again. Recommended.

Food: The Big Easy

BBQs are typical useless areas for us Muslim types; a meat orientated menu doesn't really offer much. But this is London in the 201x's (?) and even the most hardcore of meat places now cater for those with particular diets. Not that Big Easy is the perfect place for an Eid lunch; alas no, it's only the chicken that's Halal here, most of which is smoked alongside more porky types of meat (if indeed such a restriction applies). But alongside the various lobster options its enough to provide a decent amount of range - I at least was happy with my lobster roll and chicken strips.

The food was solid and plentiful, and with a lunchtime menu pretty decent value. £13 got me more food than I could eat (except I did) consisting of a starter, main with chips and a drink. That's pretty decent fare if you ask me and alone earns The Big Easy a recommendation. That everything was good just added to the good times.

Film: Alien: Covenant

After the train wreck that was Prometheus, one might accuse me of being insane to give the franchise another try. But here I am, that glutton for punishment, hoping that this time things will be different.

And for me at least it kind of paid off. I rather enjoyed Covenant. It appeared to have corrected all the issues I had with the previous instalment at least - sure there were still some issue here and perhaps even some plot holes, but all in all there was enough to keep the film ticking along.

I do have to give the crew of the Covenant a special mention (or even award) for being the least professional shiprunners ever in any film with a ship, but that frustration just added to the engagement really. Recommended.

Book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

I know I'm supposed to have read this years ago, and I know I'm supposed to like h2g2, I know it's supposed to be a core part of what makes me a nerd but I also know I'm the first to be surprised by what I actually think of the book.

I didn't like it.

I found it scatterbrained, illogical and... quite boring. The thing is, it is actually quite nerdy, and this manifests in a certain level of arrogant comedy where the book laughs at itself with quite cheap humour. I guess that could mean that I found it of little substance? The book doesn't flow, the plot is non existent and farcical, and it all seems to have been a bit of a punt. That said, it does feel like it would make a great radio show.

I have the collection, and the next book is something about a Restaurant at the end of the Universe, but I can't quite find myself to continue.

Food: Saffron Kitchen

Sometimes it's the local options that remain overlooked. Saffron has been on my list of places to try for the five years its been open, but it was always skipped for other more seemingly exotic options. But now that I've been, I've come to realise exactly what Saffron is: the safe, solid choice if you want a decent Indian without wanting to optimise or think about it too much. The default option if you will. The fact that the place is huge (190 covers or so) means you don't even have to plan a visit ahead (although the proprietor at the time did tell it it does get very busy).

We stuck to starters tonight, which were all more than enough for us. Dessert was also a decent surprise with the red velvet cookie dough hitting the spot quite nicely. If I'm honest, the £55 bill for four (including a jug of Mango Lassi) was a bit of a surprise, but we did over order slightly so perhaps it was a calibration error on our part.

All in all though it was decent and I will come again.

Film: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

GotG Vol 1 was a bit of a surprise hit when it came out in 2014 - I for one wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. It also heavily progressed the Infinity arc, was fresh in a landscape of "samey" MCU films and all in all was generally full fat and very much good value for money.

In contrast GotG Vol 2 is a very vanilla film. That's not to say that it wasn't good - I thoroughly enjoyed it, in fact - but it doesn't feel as magical or fresh as the first film. It was actually all rather safe in fact. This isn't a bad thing, since sometimes you do need to rebalance the stage that is the MCU, but for some who are expecting "more" it could feel a bit disappointing.

Still, I will recommend the film.