The ideal place for publishers' or agents' lunch meetings the Ristorante Manicomio (literally Madhouse Restaurant) gets my thumbs up for a lovely "piazza" atmosphere in the very heart of Chelsea (85 Duke Of York Square, close to the Saatchi Gallery) and deliciously simple food. It's a bit expensive, but I don't think rent comes cheap in that area.
I was there with Melissa of Pushkin Press, just as crazily bent on publishing translated fiction in this country as I am. Two like-minded fools having lunch at the Madhouse. How appropriate to eat there.
One of the waiters was the spitting image of Michael Schmidt of Carcanet, and I was slightly taken aback when he came over to our table with the bill. For a moment I thought that Michael had decided to turn to a much more profitable business, after many years of publishing poetry, often in translation.
But it wasn't him and, to our relief, at the end of the meal we were not taken away in a straitjacket.
AG
It was me, Alessandro. Having seen the light, I have now seen the darkness.
ReplyDelete