On the spur of the moment last weekend we decided to go out for lunch. As we rang round unsuccessfully trying to get a table, the realisation that it was Valentine’s Day slowly dawned. Our excuse for our lack of awareness of it being simultaneously the most romantic day of the year and the day you are least likely to get a spur of the moment table at a decent restaurant? We eschew the crass commercialisation of love…obviously.

We finally got a table at The Gaucho at Canary Wharf – a mere 15 minutes drive from us. Result. Chancing upon a restaurant with a free table on such a day really ought to arouse suspicion, however hunger and toddler demands for ‘sausage and mash now’ got the better of us and off we went