Pizza, Wings and Stranger Things 2019 Day 12

[wizzo]

Day Twelve – 22nd August 2019

THE INDEX IS HERE

It was a 100% beach day today so I’ll make this as brief as possible! 😊 In all seriousness, it’s worth sticking around just for the food. As most of you are probably aware, even the Grand Plaza has a dreaded ‘resort fee’ now having been one of the last hotels on this bit of coastline to resist the temptation. The downside is it costs you more per night. The advantage is that you get a cabana style pair of beds or two beds and an umbrella for free every day. This is something that I used to pay for nearly every day in years gone by anyway and it’s about the same price ($30 per night). So 9am we were settled on two chairs (and umbrella) and my notes reveal we were eating a breakfast of cookies and pop tarts!









At one point Lynn moved beds because she had some space invaders next to her who had to move their sun loungers closer to Lynn instead of away from her. Lynn doesn’t do space invaders and was happy to give them a filthy look and move. You don’t want to cross her, trust me. Me and the kids were oblivious to all of this because we spent the morning swimming. The highlight of our morning was me catching tiny fish on my back as I surfaced, that’s how laid back and incident free the morning was.

By lunchtime we were ready for a change of location and went back to the room for a freshen up via the tat shop over the road, now affectionately referred to as ‘Casa Del Tat’ and bought two boogie boards and an umbrella. Once ready, we headed out to Fort De Soto to use their beach and to look for dolphins and manatees from the pier. I'll let you into a secret... we didn’t see either dolphins or manatees (unlike tomorrow )!

















It was red hot on that beach and after a few hours we headed back, frazzled.

Time for Dad to have a beer on the balcony and take in the views.









Next door to the Grand Plaza Hotel is a restaurant called Mad Fish and in all the years we’ve been coming to this hotel we’ve never eaten there. I have no idea why we haven’t. It’s not any one reason we always just had somewhere else planned or we intended on trying their early bird special and weren’t ready/hungry at 4pm. This year however, on this day, we were both keen to try it and hungry early as we didn’t get any lunch. Boy we were glad we went!

From the outside this place looks like a railway carriage inspired 50s diner.





Inside, our American cousins would describe it as ‘Upscale Diner’. To be fair it’s nice inside and has a great atmosphere.

So we had made the Early Bird Menu (4-5pm) and there is a good saving to be had. This certainly isn’t a cheap restaurant at full price. We order ordered a bottle of wine and Lynn and I had starters.



I started with the mussels which were lovely.



Lynn had fried sprouts which were gorgeous!



There was bread and tapenade on the table too which was really, really good.



Main courses were…

Me – Beef Tenderloin which was excellent.



Lynn – Grouper Piccata



Lauren – Drunken Shrimp linguine



And finally, Maddy had the mussels I had as a starter for her main.

As you can see from the next photo, we absolutely demolished the lot.



In-between our main course and our desserts we had already decided that we were going to come back and eat al a carte in a couple of days for my birthday (My 21st ).

The other momentous decision was the Trip Report name. We always think of the trippy name during the trip. It depends on what happens on the holiday. It sometimes changes during the holiday too and this one was no different. So our original title was going to be “Bite me, it’s my 50th” which was a great title but not as in keeping with the holiday.

Another bottle of wine followed and it appears I didn’t make a note of desserts (I was definitely enjoying the food and wine too much to write) but I had Key Lime Pie (regular readers know that if it’s on the menu I have to order it- that’s the rule), there was also apple pie for Lynn and brownie (which the kids both had).







Before leaving, we booked a table for Saturday night for my birthday meal. Up to this point, this was the best meal of the holiday. Absolutely lovely. Some of you will know that this restaurant is British owned, and the chef trained at a Michelin starred restaurant in England before his Dad bought the place a few years ago. I meet the owner on Saturday.

Drunk on life (and Sauvignon Blanc) Lynn and I decided to call in at Norman’s Liquor on the way back to the hotel for no other reason than we love the place and its extraordinary array of spirits! The kids (being big now) made their own way back to the room.







There are some absolute bargains in this liquor store, Boddingtons isn’t one of them!



I told the owner of Norman’s that I thought his shop was the best shop in the world and that I look forward to visiting it every time we come. He laughed and gave us nothing for free. Tight!

Lynn and the Captain



We @rsed about in the lift and got back to the room with some little treasures.





We sat on the balcony having a night cap or two (the 100% proof banana thing was lush) and the kids watched America’s Got Talent and Forensic Files!









Tomorrow – Beach, wildlife and football (The best day of the holiday)

[TheTink]

Love this day - we booked this hotel for August for 5 nights so I am keen on any information about the rooms facilities and nearby shops/restaurants. And now Mad Fish is on the list

[mick]

Great relaxing day :spin your food looked lovely

Joan

[ziggyzag]

Looks a fabulous day, the food looked gorgeous and isn't Lauren tall!

[wizzo]

Originally Posted by TheTink

Love this day - we booked this hotel for August for 5 nights so I am keen on any information about the rooms facilities and nearby shops/restaurants. And now Mad Fish is on the list

See more...

There are lots of restaurants nearby (most by car), IHOP is obviously a very short walk and there is a Publix just past IHOP. Walgreens a little bit down the road and a Big Walmart about 5 minutes or so in the car. Bongos, obviously and Casa del Tatt and Normans just across the road. A Lively strip it isn't though. You won't be wondering up and down at night. Too much of a gap between things to see.

Originally Posted by ziggyzag

Looks a fabulous day, the food looked gorgeous and isn't Lauren tall!

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She's shot up yes

[Rob & Jan]

Great day, I hate space invaders on the beach too!

[Juliemack]

So glad you've finally discovered Madfish. We were only in St Pete's a couple of nights (a few years back now) and we went on our first night and were so blown away by the food we went back the next... I always pipe up when anyone asks for recommendations in St Pete