Small Bears Dine Out

My friend Hanley Bear is at football with our human guardian Grizzly this afternoon.  It will be half-time now and Polar tells me that the other team are leading by one goal, so his little black ears will be twitching anxiously under his red and white striped hat, but at least his tummy will be nice and warm, because he had spicy snacks before the game.

We bears are very lucky that Polar, our other human guardian, has a friend called Shug who runs an Indian Street Food stall in Stoke Market.  It is called 'Tiffin and Chai' and is open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Polar and Grizzly took all of us bears there a few weeks ago, and we tried a feast of tasty things.  As he had been there before, Hanley Bear was quick to recommend the chicken curry, made to Shug's mum's recipe, but Polar and Grizzly wanted to try the vegan food and ordered chickpea dahl instead, along with samosas and pakoras.  They had Indian tea with it - chai - which is made with lots of sweet spices.

We were very good bears and waited patiently for our dinner, sitting on some very pretty embroidered cushions on a brightly-painted chair which were decorated by another one of Polar's friends called Naomi, who has a little business called Doveridge Crafts.

When our dinner arrived, we couldn't believe our small eyes - there were so many different things to try!  It was very exciting for Endon and me, as we had not eaten there before and didn't know what to start with.

Hanley Bear was thirsty so, after giving it a good sniff, he had a big sip of Polar's chai.  'It's delicious, duck!' he told me.  'Try some!'

Endon was more interested in the samosas, and nibbled the corner off of the one nearest to us to get at the spicy vegetables inside.

Soon we were all tucking in, humans and bears alike.  The pakoras were my favourite!  

Mrs Shug and her family were kept very busy serving their customers.  Some of them sat in to eat, like us, while others bought take-away food to enjoy at home.

With three hungry small bears to help them, it wasn't long before Polar and Grizzly had finished their meals.  We hoped we would get to try some of Mrs Shug's lovely home-made cakes too but, sadly, our humans said they had eaten enough and had things to do, so we were gathered back into our bear basket.  

We all hope to visit again soon.  Grizzly has invited Mrs Shug and her mum, and the other nice ladies who help out at Tiffin and Chai, to join us all for a trip on Uppie next spring, when our boat is back from the paint-shop.  

Mrs Shug says she would like that, and will make a vegan picnic for us all.

Yay!