back in 2001 I spent three months in London for an internship, months during which I barely got to explore the city due to a pretty heavy workloads (night-sessions, weekends). But I still had a lot of fun, due to being part of a team of interns, all French, most of whom I actually lived with. Since we spent so much time at the office, we had to rely on our neighborhood restaurants for most of our meals. Thankfully that aspect was not a problem, however we often went back to the same places, namely a thai restaurant and an italian eatery. The latter was called Bar Remo, and I still have fond memories of us 5 going to pick up our orders with the head waitress saying "ciao" and "thank you bello" to us.
Over the past years I've come back to London regularly, and made a point to visit these old haunts, in part due to nostalgia, but really because when it comes to simple, kind-of affordable food in that area (Oxford Circus), the pickings can be pretty slim. Making a permanent move here last month provided me with a renewed sense of newcomerness, and coming to Bar Remo for a quick bite has been one of the things that has allowed me to quickly feel at home in this tremendous city. Though some of the staff has changed, they're still as nice as always, the tuna melt tastes as great as back then, and the old pictures of soap stars on the walls haven't moved. These past few weeks I've been going every Saturday for lunch, generally after running some quick errands (located on Princes Street just off Regent Street, you can't beat that), and it feels like the tradition we had in 2001 might just get replaced by a new one. Because truthfully, who doesn't like being called "bello" while entering a familiar place?
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