what is that? gliding by — whoosh — so sleek?

one afternoon, after spending rather a lot of time in the harrods toy department, we crossed bromptom road to forage a luncheon at harrods 102, a bustling foodhall with such offerings as roast meat sandwiches, gelato, krispy kreme doughnuts and a yo! sushi train.

but we perched ourselves on the high stools at the other conveyor belt, the one loaded with fattoush, and skewers of meats, and lurid neon pickles. yes, ESH: eat•simply•healthy is a mezze train! well, i was excited. there was a swarthy man behind the grill, ready to make us hot food from the menu, but we chose to dine off the train.

the kid wanted some lamb sambousek, so we picked a plate of mixed fried things first up. unfortunately these were colder than room temperature, and hard, so we turned our attention to the grilled chicken skewers. served on a bed of couscous, these went down much better. after i pulled the saucy stewed beans off the conveyor belt, my tastebuds really came alive.

is there more than novelty value to this? i must say, i would have kept grabbing stuff off the train if i wasn’t constantly keeping an eye on the coloured rims of the plates, and referring to the price list, and converting what sounded like a reasonable price into australian dollars. and — perhaps more pertinently — if it didn’t seem like i’d have to eat everything on the counter, when the kid finished her meal too soon after the beans were set down. apart from the unfortunate appetisers, the food we had was tasty and well-presented, and the portion sizes more than satisfying.

i was sad to miss out on the plates of hommous and baba ghanouj that went by, artful swirls with tantalising puddles of olive oil in the centre, crowned with fat chickpeas. there was also a good selection of revolving desserts: variations on the theme of baklava, as well as semolina pastries and milky puddings. all this passed us by.

but you see, we had to play wisely: the laduree concession was just across the road.