La’de Kitchen is a must-visit restaurant for its delectable Mediterranean menu

La’De Kitchen

Reading Road, Pangbourne RG8 7LR

0118 327 9143 pangbourne.ladekitchen.com

IT’S nice to go out for dinner on a Tuesday evening, it feels special and a real treat.

There’s a restaurant I’ve wanted to visit with my husband in Pangbourne called La’de Kitchen, which specialises in Mediterranean cuisine.

I’ve visited a few times before with friends and family so was familiar with the menu, and knew what I wanted before we even arrived.

There were a few people already there, ensuring the ambiance was lovely.

My husband perused the menu, his appetite whetted by the description of the halloumi starter (£6.90): four pieces of charcoal-grilled halloumi, dressed in olive oil.

I chose Olives (£4), they arrived, both green and black and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Time for kindness

Sarah Browning

What counts as kindness?

AQUESTION I’m often asked is ‘what counts as kindness?’ To some extent, if the recipient feels that someone has been kind to them, that’s good enough for me. But I do understand that some people want to have a more exact definition.

I decided to do some research and find out what other people say it means to them.

On their website, the Mental Health Foundation says that kindness is choosing to do something that helps others or yourself, motivated by genuine warm feelings.

In an interview for my kindness blog, Cllr Rachel Eden, Mayor of Reading, described kindness as being when you choose to do something you don’t have to do, just because you know it is a positive thing for another human being.

Claudia Hammond, a broadcaster, author and university researcher from the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness, describes kindness as the act of doing something with the intention of benefitting someone else. To her the conscious intent is an important component.

Although there are some similar elements to these descriptions, they are not exactly the same. I turned to dictionary definitions to see if I could find something that matched more closely. Interestingly, they don’t completely agree either:

Collins Dictionary - Kindness is the quality of being gentle, caring, and helpful.

Oxford Languages Dictionary – Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Where do we see it?

I find kindness stories endlessly fascinating and I love the way that they crop up in many different areas of our lives. When I look back through the examples that have been sent in to me and my team at Time for Kindness, I see stories covering home, family, strangers, work colleagues, shop environments and so much more.

We also sometimes hear about times when our readers have shown themselves kindness, an area that it can be all too easy to overlook.

To our delight, freshly baked bread and goats’ cheese crumble were served as a complimentary treat, which proved to be a deliciously moreish appetiser.

For our main courses, I opted for the Lamb Beyti (£17.90), seasoned minced lamb grilled and wrapped in lavash bread and toasted, and served with a choice of chips, bulgar or pilav rice and salad, hung yoghurt, and Halep sauce to accompany my dish, I chose the rice.

Mark chose the chicken kulbasti (£17.90): marinated chicken thigh that was then chargrilled. He chose to chips as his accompaniment.

The portions are very generous and so a dessert wasn’t really needed but I was intrigued to try the traditional Turkish pudding on the menu, Kunefe served with ice cream (£7.90).

This comprises crispy, cheese-filled layers of kadayif with a layer of mild, stretchy cheese sandwiched between layers of buttery, chopped kadayif. The dish was sprinkled with chopped pistachios, making for a unique dessert that initially divided our opinions.

However, the intriguing flavours and textures kept us coming back for more, and we polished off the portion, which could easily have been shared between two people.

To finish, Mark ordered a coffee while I had a refreshing mint tea.

The staff were attentive throughout the meal, regularly checking in to ensure everything was to our liking.

During the evening the restaurant became busy for a Tuesday night, however, based on the delicious meals I can’t say I’m surprised.

Overall, La’de Kitchen is a mustvisit restaurant for its delectable Mediterranean menu, attentive staff, and delightful ambiance.

We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a night out filled with flavoursome food and quality service.

It also has branches in Woodley, Camberley, and Muswell Hill.

So, there isn’t an exact science to where we see kindness either. It really is all around us.

Keep it simple

With so many different parts, is there a risk that we can over-complicate matters?

If we analyse kindness and what it means too closely, perhaps it could stop us from taking action at all.

People are sometimes put off by thinking that kindness has to come in big, grand gestures. But time and again the stories I come across show the positive impact of even the smallest acts – from smiling at someone in the street to holding a door open for a colleagues or recommending a good book to a friend.

They each match some elements of the definitions I’ve listed, but not all of them.

My view is that when it comes down to it, how you define kindness isn’t the most important thing.

As long as we are treating each other and ourselves well, in a way that the recipient receives as positive, that is what matters.

What do you think?

Sarah Browning is a Kindness Cheerleader, Communicator and Strategist. For more details, log on to:

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