London, the capital of the United Kingdom, was established in 43AD by the Romans and is
now the largest city in Europe; with a population of seven million inhabiting over 600 square
miles. The city is divided into 32 distinctive boroughs such as; Westminster home to
parliament, Soho renowned for its night-clubs restaurants and bars and the East End home of
Jack The Ripper and The Krays.
Despite being blitzed by the Nazis during the Second World War, London is .stuffed to the
gunnels. with historical buildings and architecture ranging from; Big Ben, Buckingham
Palace, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul.s Cathedral to The London Eye.
Culture vultures can find stimulation in the numerous art galleries, museums and theatres
such as; Covent Garden, Drury Lane, The National gallery and the British Museum to name
but a few. Should the surfeit of culture wear you down there are numerous parks, pubs and
restaurants to reinvigorate the flagging spirit.
The restaurant review section of my website www.kenfrost.com contains reviews of some of
our favourite London restaurants.

An Orgy at the Coconut Grove
My four years studying at University, whilst giving me the self discipline to study in an
unstructured (ie not the set routine of my school days) environment; did not prepare me for
the sheer drudgery, tedium and grind of studying to be a Chartered Accountant whilst
working for KPMG London. The contrast between university life and working life could not
be more apparent; I found working life to be a reversion to my school days. Namely, getting
up each day at the same time in order to attend the rigid .nine to five. sweatshop took the
freedom which I had enjoyed at university away; by removing my control over my day.
Although, when you were auditing a company.s books at their year end you would end up
working long after five. Coupled with the day job was the requirement to study, long into the
evening; cramming my head with uninteresting technical details about debits, credits and
financial reporting requirements. I fully understood why people thought that accountants were
boring, the subject matter is as dry as the Martian landscape.
I was not alone in feeling this way and, in the hot house atmosphere of work and studying,
friendships and bonds were made with like minded individuals who desired to escape the
tedium. We did what any other twenty something.s living in London would do, we partied
hard. London in the early eighties was a fun place to be; transport still worked reasonably
effectively and new restaurants, night-clubs and trendy bars were regularly opening up. It did
not take myself and my friends long to find a few places that would become our regular
haunts over the coming few years of indentured servitude.
One of our favourite restaurants, that we would often go to after work, was the Coconut
Grove (now sadly closed) located just off Bond Street. This was a lively, trendy restaurant
and bar; decorated in the manner of a set from the then popular TV detective series Miami
Vice. The restaurant was set on two floors, the ground and the basement. The best area was
the basement where the music was loud, and the atmosphere buzzing. We tended to go there
in groups of ten or so, this gave us the opportunity to indulge in the house speciality .The
Orgy.. This consisted of a large platter of roasted cuts of pork, beef and lamb with a fresh
pineapple, served on a bed of succulently roasted potatoes (see page 263). I really would
recommend this dish, should anyone reading this know of a restaurant where this dish is
served please let me know.

Needless to say the partying did not mix so well with the studying, something had to give; not
surprisingly our exam results were not a spectacular success. I found myself paying frequent
visits to our Director of Studies, a lady who despite never having taken exams beyond her
sixteenth birthday was under the impression that she understood studying and exam
techniques. She came out with an interesting quote during one of her regular lectures to us:
.I want you all to be above average.
An arithmetic impossibility!
She, for reasons that escape me, decided that I was the ring leader of the reprobates; and never
ceased to lecture me about how I was misusing my leadership skills by leading the others
astray instead of into the path of righteousness. Despite the lectures, and the mind numbing
tedium of the studying, I finally qualified in 1989 and was able to resume a more balanced
lifestyle in terms of work and play.
Whilst I no doubt seem to have painted a very negative picture about the life of a trainee
accountant, I would say that during my time with KPMG I made some good friends. Some of
whom I still keep in touch with. Additionally, I attained my professional qualification; which
gave me the opportunity to work, travel and live internationally thereby increasing the
richness of my life.

Lobster Bashing in Aylesbury
Whilst many of my external audit assignments, when working for KPMG, were confined to
London and the surrounding suburbs; there were occasions when myself and members of the
audit team were despatched further afield. One regular .out of towner. was based in
Aylesbury; where we would spend a fortnight, or so, reviewing the accounts of a major unit
trust.
Aylesbury is a medium sized market town with a handful of pubs, a few restaurants and two
hotels. The size of the audit team, eight or more people, often precluded us all staying in the
same hotel; so we tended to split between the two. However, we always made sure that in the
evening we gathered together for the important end of day wind down ritual of eating and
drinking. The dining choices consisted of the hotel restaurants, a Chinese restaurant, a steak
house, a carvery and a few bistros dotted in and around the town. Once you had been on this
audit a number of times, these options tended to feel less and less appealing each visit; the
menus seemed to be the same year in year out.
However, one time we were there coincided with Chinese New Year. The manager of the
audit team very decently, in my opinion, decided that we should .push the boat out. on that
evening; and booked us a table and special New Year.s meal in the local Chinese restaurant.
This particular restaurant, I would say, was definitely a cut above the average .sweet and sour
pork balls. establishment you tend to find in some places. The special New Year.s menu was
a culinary masterpiece; combining all manner of dishes including, the high point, a whole
lobster each. This naturally came in its shell, with the claws and other protuberances. The
restaurant, to aid our extraction of the flesh from the shell, gave us the necessary tools; thin
lobster picks, crackers and small hammers. We set to work with gusto. The lobster was
absolutely scrumptious, tender and succulent. My own enthusiasm, and possibly the large
quantity of champagne consumed before and during the meal, impaired my judgement of the
force I needed to apply; I brought my lobster hammer down on the shell with a resounding
.thwack.. Needless to say Newton.s law:
.for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
 

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