Yogi Berra famously said: "It ain't over till it's over." But we did reach a bit of a stalemate.
Mrs WEST4URANTS fairly pointed out that the blog claims to be: "One family's attempt to eat its way round as many as possible of the 100 or so restaurants in Chiswick during 2016." And therefore she said we should just call it a day.
Whereas in my mind we set ourselves a challenge and we shouldn't quit half way through. Did I stop collecting Esso 1970 World Cup coins when there were still gaps where Emlyn Hughes and Alan Mullery should have been? Hell, no.
And while I'd be lying if I claimed we'd broken internet records, if I had a pound for every time we'd been asked to recommend a restaurant in Chiswick I'd have nearly enough money to buy a peach from Natoora. (And of course my mind always goes blank, like when someone hands you the Sonos at dinner and asks you to choose something 'really good'.)
Marriage is all about compromise, so we've agreed to round-up 2016 and then re-start in 2019 on an intermittent basis.
So...
We had something to eat in 50 different places in Chiswick in 2016, spending a quite embarrassing £3,571.03.
Our best (and most expensive) meal was probably Hedone, but then we did spend more than a tenth of our annual budget on that and you wouldn't want to go there every day.
Our worst was a breakfast at Rhythm & Brews, which seemed to have been thrown together by some hungover students. But that was probably unfair, and the owner was very apologetic about it and offered us a free breakfast (which we couldn't take up because we had to keep going to different places).
Did we find a new favourite? Well we didn't discover anywhere much better than Trompette or HRH or Charlotte's or Vacherin; they're local favourites for a reason. But we discovered Faanoos and the Coffee Traveller and Angie's Little Food Shop. I liked The Italian Job so much I bought shares in it (do go), Miss W4 got a job at Urban Pantry and Nikki's Bakery became a lucky study venue for Master W4.
In our two year break we've said goodbye to Carvosso's, Le Pain Quotidien, The Smokehouse, Jackson + Rye, Byron, Foxlow and Quantus, among others. Patisserie Valerie moved to where Maison Blanc had been, and then closed down abruptly when its finance director was taken into custardy for stealing all the dough. Darcau closed and its replacement, Melody Cafe, lasted barely a year, most of which was spent arguing with the council over its monstrous 'gazebo'.
But we've got plenty of new places to try. Top of the list when the hype dies down is The Crown, Henry Harris' bustling new venture in the former police station previously occupied by Carvosso's. As Yogi would say: "Nobody goes there nowadays; it's too crowded."
