Bridge Street.

Around The World.

George opens the restaurant door, the first thing we notice is the smell of fresh coffee, walking inside.

"Morning, I will take a cup; please, make sure you sprinkle chocolate over the top," George says while walking through the entrance.

The kitchen porter is from the Czech Republic, and he has dreadlocks that go down to his lower back, dressed in light blue jeans with a white t-shirt on, with a couple of holes in. His name is Andrej.

Andrej looks back, smiling at George, while the coffee pours out into a white cup beneath.“Yeah man sure. Chef is in the back, rolling."

Now you shouldn't judge a man by the way he looks, but you would be right if you thought he's a stoner, to the point a couple of the funny fags filled with the devil's lettuce don't do much to him anymore. George carries on, walking past rows of tables with chairs tucked underneath.

"Happy days mate, don't forget two sugars, please."

George is walking to the back bit where more booths are, salt alongside pepper grinders, with a big bottle of chilli oil sits, huddled on top in the middle of the tables, along with a steak knife next to a fork, sitting on top of a folded white napkin either side of the tables. Jamaican dancehall music is playing from a portable speaker in the kitchen. He pokes his head in to see where the head chef is but can't see anyone, just a grey mobile speaker on top of a white chest freezer, silver shelving above that has pizza plates on. He carries on walking past some tattered framed mirrors which are on the wall for decoration, also a massive clock is on one of the walls with two hands, like a person on JSA (Job Seekers Allowance) they don't work. He pulls open the glass door to the outside of the restaurant, which has dark wooden decking with plastic dark grey tables because the weather is not the sunniest. He opens a golden brown garden gate to his left side.

The Czech Republican head chef is rolling a long cigarette on the table, I say with a wink. There are some crystal green buds in a baggy beside the black and gold revolver cylinder grinder. In the corner beside the restaurant's green bins, there is a building behind, with windows equally separated, if you look over the bricked wall, a massive drop to the building's underground car park with a delver metal retractable door. There is a plastic tub on the table, a couple of darts inside, and dirty coffee cups beside the tub on the grey garden table.

George asks, "Yo bratr od jiné matky, co se děje?"

In English, he said, "Yo brother from a different mother, what's happening?"

The head chef looks surprised while bumping fists with George, that is now unwrapping his box of smokes, to flip two over out of superstition; it is supposed to be good luck; when they did ten, it would be one for ten, two for twenty.

The chef is a skinny guy with black hair also dark eyes, and he is in his mid-thirties, clean shaven today; he usually lets it grow a little.

The head chef responds, "I will reply in English because if I say in Czech, you won't understand, but not bad though considering your accent bratr."

George flicks his red lighter, and a flame exits to spark his cigarette; he puts the packet alongside the lighter back in his pocket while the head chef licks the rolling paper, while smoke leaves George's mouth.

He responds, "Yeah, Jackson has been teaching me, bro, f**k I was saying this all of last night, so I didn't forget."

Now Jackson is someone you will meet later, mate; he is the head chef younger bratr (Brother). He is a funny guy and also a f*****g hard worker; he is a good chef, just a brilliant guy to be around, with positive vibes all the time, never gets stressed.

The wooden door opens, Andrej walks over to the table with a black serving tray that he places down, and three cappuccinos sit on top. Chocolate sprinkled all over the place, there is more on the tray than on the foamy milk, but George won't complain, not if it is free; the best things in life are.

George breathing out smoke, "What one is mine, bro?"

"Any one man, they all have the same amount of sugar."

Chef takes a few tokes of the king-skin roll up after passing it to Andrej while George picks up a cup, sipping. We can definitely smell the lit spliff now, be careful you don’t get high off the fumes.

George puts his cup down while asking, "Quick match lads?”

Chef asks back, "Around the world?"

The battered dartboard is hanging up on the wall beside the wooden door.

George responds, "Oh yeah baby, let's do this."

Andrej sits down on a plastic chair out of the way, "I will just watch this one."

George walks over to the dartboard, taking out the three different darts that are scattered around the board.

While he says to Andrej "Kočička." (p***y)

The chef laughs which turns into cough, he takes his fancy darts out from a small black case

Chef says, "Check these out, bratr; they came yesterday."

He passes them to George after he takes a sip from the middle cup. George is nodding while looking at them. He passes the black with gold trim darts back.

George asks, "They look nice. Have you played with them yet?"

He stubs his cigarette out while Chef is smoking the spliff, "Not yet, I am going to christen them now."

George asks, "How much did they set you back bro?“

Chef responds "Should have been about 120, but I got them for 50 quid."

George is just about to throw one of the battered darts to get warmed up but stops; as he looks at the chef, surprised, that is nodding.

George responds, "f**k that. I don't particularly appreciate spending that much. I have trouble if I spend 60 on trainers."

Andrej says, "Same here, bratr; I make s**t last, especially trainers, I have had this t-shirt for years."

George fist bumps in agreement with Andrej while George nods his head. George throws a few practice shots at the dartboard while Chef sorts himself out.

George lost the match of darts, I don't want to make excuses for him, but it's because of lack of practice, compared to the head chef that has a dart board at his home. Drum 'n' base is blaring from the kitchen. George walks out from the door opposite the kitchen's entrance, wearing his all-black chef uniform. He is adjusting his black chef hat, which has a white cutlery crest in the middle. Through the door that George just walked out of is a door that leads to an alley where the chefs or front of house staff smoke in busy times, also the office where the manager is most of the time. The manager is a Polish guy called Chris, his assistant is a French lady called Aida. She passes George to go to the office, passing booths with table and chairs, while he walks into the kitchen to prep for the day; they exchange smiles in passing. At the front is the kitchen porter, who is sweeping the restaurant's floor around the table's legs. George is rolling up his sleeves as he enters the kitchen.

The head chef passes George a piece of paper as he passes the pizza section. After Chef switches on the three-tier stone pizza oven that he has just cleaned, sparkling now, it doesn't half get dirty after a busy service. George looks at the piece of paper while the Chef goes to open the big grey door for the walk-in fridge opposite is twinned deep silver sinks. Behind George is a six-slated grill, that is sandwiched between two twinned fryers, also the pizza oven. The head chef reappears from the walk-in; while he is nodding to the drum 'n' base beat, he passes him a plastic container full of burgers, but they are not ordinary beef burgers; they are lamb burgers.

George asks, "Yeah, seems simple enough, bottom and top bun squirt of pesto mayo, put some lettuce, a slice of tomato on the bottom bun, then the burger with guacamole on top with three crispy onion rings, closed with the top bun, on a tray with fries also a pot of relish. Is this the month's special, bro?"

The head chef is pouring pizza sauce into a saladette big metal container with a 2oz red-handled ladle sticking out from within. It is beside another big metal container full of tiny mozzarella cubes, the cheese alongside the sauce act like a divider because in three smaller rectangular metal pots in three rows, on the left is veg, on the right is meat, four fridge compartments underneath, next to the fridge unit in the corner is the marbled slab where they make the dough circular.

Chef responds, "Yes, also, there is a veggie pizza."

George slices the lamb burger packaging open; he puts the red handles knife down on the red chopping board. That is on top of the meat fridge that is underneath the grill. George is putting blue gloves on to sort the burgers out so he can put the lamb burgers inside.

He responds, “Oh right, bro, I think the lamb burger will sell well."