An ugly incident at a top restaurant showed me why service charge is necessary

DO you," asked my girlfriend, "have something against the sun? Was it rude to you at a party or something?" I could see her point.. soon as the weather turned for the better, I insisted we ate in the bookish gloom of Andrew Edmunds's basement.

- David Ellis

Soon after, while the rest of London weighed up how little to wear and made for the parks, I ignored the terraces and reserved a table in the midnight dining room of Sale e Pepe, for heavyweight portions of old-school Italian.

At least we didn't get sunburn. Besides, Sale was a hoot; terrific food, light service, good crowd. We ditched pudding in favour of a nightcap at the bar. Soon we weren't the only pair there; two guys wandered up. "Do you have Single Barrel?" said the first, referring to a garden-variety expression of Jack Daniels. "Of course, sir," said the barman, nodding. Whereupon the two flared into a howling rage.

My first thought-I get it, Jack Daniels is trash-quickly turned from humour to horror. "What!" the first went, jabbing at the air. "The guy at the table said you didn't! That you don't sell it." The bartender, baffled, shook his head in apology. "He's new, he doesn't know the list. There's a bottle." He gestured.