Wine flowed, too, thanks to The Little Wine Shop, also around the corner and another place to which Gillian and James were as devoted as the staff were to them: their last delivery arrived just a few weeks before Gillian died last year, aged 90.
It just so happened that I was back in London a few weeks ago, so I could attend a bash to commemorate and celebrate the life of food historian and typographer Gillian Riley.
It was a beautiful, lively occasion organised by Gillian’s family and friends, and held at Room 71-73 in north London, just a few streets from the house she and her partner, James, lived and worked in so prolifically for many years.
Gillian’s sister, Joanna, spoke about their early life growing up in North Yorkshire and how Gillian was always a “greedy” girl.
Everyone there, it seemed, had enjoyed (often countless times) Gillian’s hospitable good cooking: meals she would shop for locally or in Chinatown, prepare with precision and glee, and share, while also discussing the next meal.
