Aviation Theme Resaurant

[Cricket23]

With a bit of luck I shall be obtaining my PPL soon as I only have the Skills Test to do. My better half - Mrs C23, has suggested that we have some top notch grub. Now, I'm not too bothered, but as she has had a lot to put up with whilst I've been getting my licence, methinks this could win me a few brownie points, which I can convert into flying hours. I'm sure you get my drift.:E
So, to try and combine the two, does anyone know of a really decent aviation themed restaurant in London or the South East? Maybe something like the restaurant at Croydon Airport.
Any ideas.......?
C23

[Fuji Abound]

I am not sure top notch grub and aviation restaurants go together:confused:

but the restaurant at Lydd does have a very pleasant aviation theme and the grub isnt (wasnt) too bad .. .. ..

L2K (not quite SE) has a good restaurant and the aviation theme is just outside .. .. ..

as for restaurants outside airports I am afraid you will have to wait until someone else adds to the thread.

[Andy_RR]

Fly her into Sywell, have an evening meal at the Aviator Hotel and then stay the night there too. Just don't wear yourself out, 'cos you'll have to fly out again in the morning! :}

You never know, it could open her eyes to many possibilities!

[Keygrip]

Fly her to France, Holland or Belgium for the weekend.

[Cricket23]

Great suggestions so far, but I'm afraid flying Mrs 23 anywhere isn't an option. She regards the Katana as an Airfix model powered by a rubber band, and quote - "I don't want to become another Kennedy statistic!".

Still I'm working on it.

C23

[Laundryman]

You could do worse than a weekend break at the aviator hotel at sywell aerodrome near Northampton,

check their website


http://www.aviatorhotel.co.uk/home.html

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'll third Sywell - nice place, on an airfield, good grub, lovely hotel, very aviation themed.

If you're really lucky, they won't lose your booking either (although to be fair, they've improved radically in that regard over the last couple of years).

G

[EGBKFLYER]

Wow - must be a different Sywell to the one I know then... The hotel looks fab, but I definitely wouldn't rate the food. The Horseshoe pub is about five mins from the airfield and serves much better fare, but it isn't aviation-themed of course...

What about that fancy bar at Kemble (AV8?). I think they do food. Or the Touchdown Inn at Wellesbourne - not fancy but top grub IMO. You could have tried the Birdland Bar at Sibson til last week before it burnt down too:\

Glenrothes has a nice restaurant, if you want to fly that far and I seem to remember Cumbernauld wasn't bad either. They serve great Moules Frites at Le Touquet - about €18 last time I was there.

Yum - making me feel hungry now. Enjoy and let us know where you end up...:ok:

[dwshimoda]

I agree with the comments about Sywell - if she doesn't want to fly yet, take her down for a weekend and woo her with the charms of the place, visually and atmoshpere wise it's brilliant, but I must confess to not having eaten there... You never know, she might suddeny decide it's not so bad after all...

Failing that, AV8 at Kemble is pretty good, but can take a while, so don't put any time pressures on yourself!

DW:ok:

[Cricket23]

To put a bit more meat on the bones (there's a pun here somewhere!), I was thinking of a really classy venue, something like the Royal Aaeronautical Society. I 'phoned them and they only do functions and do not have a public restaurant. I was looking for somewhere around £50'ish per head, and/or really unusual. A tall order I know.
Sywell looks ok'ish, but in the Sunday lunch league, not for posh grub. Having looked at their website I also thought the rooms were a bit ordinary.

Sorry to be picky, but Mrs C23 is a hard lady to impress. :{

...wondered how she ended up with me!:p

[EGBKFLYER]

Sounds like you need to start again with a PPL(H) mate! Don't know of any sufficiently posh places you can reach with a fixed wing alone (i.e. not involving a taxi ride at least!)

Only one I can think of is in France - http://www.chateau4vacation.com/burgundy-airfield.html

Lovely. Last time we went, they met us with a vintage Rolls and we had to cut the top off a champagne bottle with a sword.:eek:

If THAT doesn't impress her, I'd look for another missus/ hobby...:}

[Cricket23]

I like your style EGBKFLYER!!
When I showed Mrs C23 the post she laughed like a drain!
Previously, her view has been that she wouldn't fly with me as she didn't want to become another "Kennedy" statistic - see previous post. However, having looked at the details she's coming around.
Great idea, cheers.
C23

[EGBKFLYER]

Slowly slowly catchee monkey...

Mrs C23 should be very glad you fly a Katana and not a banged out old C150 fitted with a climb prop cos the engine is so tired... As for becoming a Kennedy stat - tell her to stay away from grassy knolls (or is that not the Kennedy she meant;) ?)

I think she's bluffing and would probably love to do a safety pilot course really:ok:

[EddieHeli]

I would second the Sywell Idea, I'm based here now but used to fly in and stay overnight when I was previously based north of Newcastle.
Regards the food, whilst the Daytime food is nothing to write home about, the restaurant transforms itself into a posh (and expensive) place at night. We go there for special occasions.
The rooms may seem basic but its probably because the place is done out in the Art Deco style, and as someone who normally stays at 4* plus hotels (Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt etc) it was the first place I ever stayed that had heated bathroom mirrors so you could shave having got out of the shower without having to wipe it first with the towel.
Its great on a Summers evening, or at the weekend sitting outside watching the planes coming and going, and has a pleasant atmosphere steeped in Aviation.

Regards
EddieHeli

[dwshimoda]

It'll be a nice flight as well! Re Mrs C23, my wife wasn't scared of flying, but was apprehensice (whether a 747 - obviously not up front!) or the C-150 I treated her to the first time. We literally climbed to 2,000 feet, went over the house so she could see her car / the back-garden, and then I let her fly for a bit.

Can't get off the f'in controls now / doesn't mind commercial flying on her own, and want's to go flying all the time! Thankfully, she's happy just to be aongside me, and doesn't want her own licence... yet!

[Jinkster]

I understood there was some place in Cumbria (north Lake District) where you can go for Sunday lunch!