A Few Friends Called Round,

during the day,

firstly Mick in the morning and Alex in the afternoon, just as we said our goodbyes to him the electrician called back with new bulbs and light switch, after replacing the bulbs and switch we now have light in the area of the living room we sit in the evening, so no more romantic candle lit television,

 in the evening we were out for a real treat,

 we were going to a venue we had never visited before, 

 the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel,

 we made our way inside,

 the reception area was huge,

 the seating area by the bar had a aquarium as a centre piece,

 we made our way past one of the 11 restaurants and eating areas in the complex,

 until we arrived at the Maharani Indian restaurant,

 tonight we were the guests of Barry Kenyon, who kindly treated us to this evening,

 the restaurant was beautifully laid out, from the chandelier,

 to decorations in recesses in the walls,

the room was spacious,

 and the tables gave every dinner plenty of room,

 outside there was a balcony over looking the sea,

 with plenty of seating to watch the sunset over a cocktail or two,

 which you could access by these ornate stairs,

 knowing I like cactus Diana spotted this mini cacti garden,

 we ordered a selection of dishes,

 and a selection of condiments arrived,

 Diana decided on a non-vegetarian set menu, that included a lamb and chicken dish,

 plus a poppadom and nam bread,

 the meal was huge,

as was the serving of the onion bhajis I ordered as my stater, the serving was huge, this was a king sized plate,

Barry ordered a vegetarian selection, his starter put mine to shame, 

 our main courses arrived,

 Barry's dishes were included in his set menu, but I ordered a chicken jalfrezi, aloo gobi and pilau rice,

 'Cheers!', the servings for the main course like the starters were huge, we could have had one or even two more people at the table there was so much food, one starter, one meat dish, one vegetable dish and one rice and I was full to bursting,

 Barry and myself did not order a dessert, but Diana's set menu came with fresh fruit,

 we made our way back through the reception area, Diana loaded down with a doggie bag, if you do ever decide to try the Maharani restaurant at the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel remember the portions are big when you order,

 we bade farewell to the complex and made our way home, after thanking Barry for a lovely evening it was feet up for a couple from Ripper Street, one from Boardwalk Empire, a nightcap and we were off to bed.