Croydon Dinner Club's new home

Croydon Dinner Club has a new home on Meetup.com.

This is a great service where people can join the group and receive e-mail updates directly whenever a new dinner club event is created. Sign up is much easier too and it means that hopefully no one will miss an invitation.

Click here to sign up to the group with a quick click.

October 2012 | Aqua Brasserie

Inside the Aqua Brasserie

This month sees the Croydon Dinner Club heading off to the Aqua Brasserie in South End / the Restaurant Quarter.

Aqua Mediterranean Meze Bar and Grill is the brainchild of two highly experienced chefs, Dasos Charalambous and Dario Nardo. Both have trained and worked in some of London’s top hotels and gone on to open their own restaurant in Croydon's restaurant quarter.


This restaurant has a great choice of menu items and I will be working to accommodate all tastes with them for our dinner club here.

Travel

Rail: The restaurant is located 8 minutes walk away from South Croydon railway station and 15 minutes walk from East Croydon Station
Bus: Numbers 166, 405, 407, 466, 119, 312, 412 to Aberdeen Road stop or Spice's Yard stop
Car: There is ample parking in the car park nearby or on the street

Follow or tweet @CroydonDC for info about the evenings, to ask questions and to stay involved in an extraordinarily exciting social chapter of Croydon :)

September 2012 | Fish & Grill

Inside the restaurant

Fish and Grill

Owned by Malcom John, the same chef who brought Le Cassoulet to Croydon, the Fish and Grill is a fresh fish bar & counter showcasing a selection of fish and shell fish. There's a grill too so not everything is fish.

It's a split level restaurant and has rave reviews from many sources.

On entering the restaurant we found ourselves greeted warmly by the hostess and the staff were attentive.

The restaurant is gorgeous - well decorated and spacious with a warm and elegant feel. The dark colours of the walls and moody lighting transport you into a world of fishy goodness.

This time round we had 9 people so occupied a long table very comfortably. Most had decided to stick to 2 courses with a starter and main, but because of the quality of the food many decided to get that 3rd course in.

There was a wide variety of starters, all as delicious as the next. I had the crab starter which was particularly gorgeous. As the idea of the dinner club is to try out new restaurants and foods, a lot of people went for the mixed seafood grill which came with a healthy mini-bucket of chips - a nice touch. Onto the deserts - and there were many!

Some claimed this night was the best food yet in Croydon and everyone enjoyed the night. Another success in Croydon!

Survey results:

Some anonymous reviews left of the evening:

"The food was absolutely wonderful. The service excellent. We were so well looked after."

"The food was bellissimo and the restaurant itself had a lovely ambiance. I didn't realise we had such an excellent fish restaurant in our neighborhood as I usually travel to central London for such a high quality meal."

Travel

Rail: The restaurant is located 8 minutes walk away from South Croydon railway station and 15 minutes from East Croydon railway station
Bus: Numbers 166, 405, 407, 466, 119, 312, 412 to Aberdeen Road stop or Spice's Yard stop
Car: There is ample parking in the car park nearby or on the street

Follow or tweet @CroydonDC for info about the evenings, to ask questions and to stay involved in an extraordinarily exciting social chapter of Croydon :) 

August 2012 | The Glamorgan

The Glamorgan gastro-pub

This month we headed to The Glamorgan gastro-pub, located on Cherry Orchard road in Addiscombe.

They are well known for their fantastic South-African themed food and brilliant selection of beers, wines and other beverages - they did not disappoint.

Upon arrival, a small storm had brewed. A break down in communication between both parties meant there was a scramble for pre-orders a few hours before the night was due to kick off. Then, as if the sole purpose was to make the owner and I fall out, there were 5 dishes too many ordered when we arrived. Pretty soon I realised that some had ordered the food they'd already pre-ordered so I saved the remaining hair follicles on the owners head and sorted it out. Luckily, this didn't disturb anyone else's night which was perfect.

The pork belly starter at
The Glamorgan

The storm in a tea cup soon blew away quickly and everyone continued to waiting patiently for their starters - and was the wait worth it? Absolutely. Everything was delicious. I know because I asked to try (sometimes subtley, sometimes not) or was offered a taste of the dishes around my table. I have never liked liver, but my gosh, I liked that liver. The pork belly was sublime - a mixture of sweet, crisp chutney and luxuriously soft cuts of belly. The soup - thick, creamy and delicious.

If this was a sign of things to come, then... just... wow...

I was prepared for a long wait, having been warned about the hazards of ordering the freshly prepared and cooked food on the night for over 20 people, so I was getting ready to mingle among the other tables and chat to the other attendees when something massive came out of the kitchen. Two massive things. Two bunny chow meals served in half a loaf of bread.

Buffalo burger at
The Glamorgan

Soon the other dishes poured out of the kitchen, all as beautiful to look at as to taste. I chose the Buffalo burger, purely because I'd never had buffalo. I'm now a convert to buffalo, or at least to the burgers. It was juicy, tender, rich in flavor and suitably filling, served with chips crispier than most roast potatoes but soft as a cloud.

I tried some Boerewors sausage too, which I'd had in South Africa before and was surprised - I actually liked it this time. Positive reviews flooded back of the other dishes from across the room as well.

The cheesecake dessert at
The Glamorgan

The desserts were from the board and also included a home made Apple Strudel. By this point, I was already fit to burst, but the dessert was already paid for and I love strudel - no brainer. Well, I thought I loved strudel... This strudel set the bar for other strudels. It was made personally by the owner. Soft apple, plump raisins, crispy pastry with just the right amount of sugar on top to sweeten it up and with an unexpected zing from lemon drizzled inside. It was a memory in my mouth.

Despite a shakey, somewhat stressful start and a lot of worry about whether the kitchen could cope with the sudden flurry of orders and guests, The Glamorgan really pulled out all the stops and laid on something very special for us. People were commenting to me that they didn't realise there was such good, interesting food served up in Croydon.

SOUTH AFRICAN MENU FOR THE CROYDON DINNER CLUB - £15 PER PERSON

STARTERS

• Chicken Livers Peri Peri (spicy) on toasted Ciabatta bread

• Belly of Pork slow-cooked in Savannah cider served with caramelised red onion

• Butternut and Cinnamon Soup with toasted honey bread

MAINS

• Bunny Chow (Malay mutton curry) served with sambals and chutney in a half-loaf of bread

• Boerewors (South African sausage) served on buttered mash with chilli, tomato and beans

• Buffalo Game Burger in mushroom sauce served with chips

• Babotie (savoury lamb mince with a curried egg custard) served with a green salad

• South African rib eye steak, served with grilled black mushroom, cherry tomatoes and garlic butter

DESSERT

• South African surprise! (Our full dessert board will also be available, for a small extra charge)

July 2012 | Buenos Aires steak house

Our first fully booked event! 

That's right, steak fans, 2 goals were reached that night. First, we took over an entire restaurant for the first time! Brilliant! Second, every ticket to this event went just 24 hours after the event was published a month in advance!

About the restaurant

Buenos Aires is situated right on a cross roads in South End, Croydon. It's a cosy little venue with a nice feel about the place. It's size would maybe lend itself to a small cafe or a take away, so converting it to a proper sit down restaurant was a brave move. It really pays off though. There's not a lot worse than sitting in a cavernous, empty restaurant. In here, you'd never feel like that.

About the food

Overall the quality of the produce seemed to be pretty good. Unfortunately, a common theme among everyone was that their food was too cold. This is probably because they were getting through everyone's meal at the same time, rather than a more typical service.

The portions were a good size as part of our 3 course meal - there wasn't that unpleasantly full feeling at the end of the meal.

Service

Service was ok for the night, although it seemed that there were some communication barriers between us and our waitress. Often we had to repeat our orders and ask for clarification.

Afterwards we meandered down to the Half & Half bar just down the road, which stocks a really good selection of drinks.


Follow or tweet @CroydonDC for info about the evenings, to ask questions and to stay involved in an extraordinarily exciting social chapter of Croydon :)

New Facebook page

Over the weekend I met some lovely residents of Addiscombe who had Facebook but not Twitter. Whilst I'd originally intended to run Croydon Dinner Club just through Twitter, I thought it's unnecessarily inhibiting so the page is up!

Feel free to like the page and share photos, stories and whatever you like from the evenings.

Click here to visit the Facebook page.

June 2012 - Galicia's tapas restaurant & bar

The spread

Gargantuan meal at Galicia's

Galicia's restaurant has a light and airy feel inside with a large bar and tables dotted throughout the open plan restaurant. The staff were friendly and welcomed most of us with a door held open and a smile.

Galicia's is not an easy place to miss. It has a large presence on the high-street and it's frontage is light. They have certainly achieved that "Mediterranean" look throughout the restaurant. The place feels family run, although I'm not sure it is.

From the seating area of the restaurant you can see the kitchen and chefs working away. There are actually very few places that you can't see from anywhere in the restaurant - no tucked away bits. This is actually a good thing and provides quite a settled atmosphere. Certainly, if you were meeting people here you'd have no problem spotting them.

Ordering was pain free and the food started arriving very quickly - although not suspiciously quickly... and it kept on coming...  and coming... and coming... Then, just as we thought we were safe, more came. We certainly ordered too much as I think everyone was expecting the portions to be far less. As it happened, the portions were nearly main meal size. Certainly having 2 dishes would have been too much for 1 person (as you can see by the picture).

The food was delicious and the variety was good too. 

All in all, it was a really great night in a well oiled machine of a restaurant.

Reviews of the night (taken from twitter)

from @dave_heron - "Good time last night. Galicia followed by @MatthewsYard - great!"

from @TramFam - "I've had a fab evening with everyone at @CroydonDC Thank you to everyone who attended. What a great group of individuals with wit & humour."

from @Rups32 - "Thank you for organising! we Had lots of fun & loved meeting everyone! Looking forward to next time for sure! :0)"

from @Bienosa - "Thanks @ChristoPM for organising another great night @CroydonDC. I'm tapas-ed out! Good to see you"

from @AnneGiles - "Great time at Galicia tonight with @CroydonDC - took camera and forgot to take photos!"

May 2012 - Little Bay

The restaurant that left us wondering "What was more entertaining: the conversation or the decoration?"

The first thing that strikes you about this place when you walk in is the dramatically decorated interior. We were sat in the function room which overlooks the dining... stage? Well at least that's what it looked like! 

Tables were sat in individual booths around the main dining room and positioned to look like boxes you'd typically find at classical entertainment venues. Needless to say, the decoration really was a feast for the eyes which was good preparation for the feast awaiting our stomachs!

We'd been given a special 3 course menu for which the minimum number of guests was 12. It was looking like we may have to spend an extra few pennies until the 12th guest walked in to a cheer (which made them incredibly confused)...

Guest walks into the restaurantMe: "12!"
Everyone: "Whheeyyyy!!!"

God-like Profiteroles

From mussels to lamb to profiteroles (just what I had), all the courses were gorgeous and generously proportioned. The service was very attentive, friendly and possibly the best we've had so far. We were all in agreement that the night was really great and one to remember. All the reviewers have said it, but I cannot believe that the whole night only cost me £17 including 5 alcoholic drinks! Such a bargain cannot be ignored in Croydon.

PS - Of course the conversation was more entertaining :D

April 2012 - Albert's Table

Posh nosh in Croydon's restaurant quarter

Now, I'd never have imagined to find a place such as this in Croydon. Top quality produce fresh from the fields of Surrey farmers sat on a plate in front of me - and wow, did it taste good!

Albert's table is a place you might often walk past and wonder what's inside or maybe not even notice it. It's presence in the restaurant quarter is understated unlike so many of the other restaurants in the area. Once you're inside its décor is pretty nice. It's certainly ideal for a "trying to impress" first date or business lunch/dinner, or if you've got a large group and just can't decide which restaurant to take them to.

The menu was varied and for those among us who hadn't been so gastronomically adventurous, there were lots of new things to try. 

The staff were very accommodating and attentive which was great and the food was served in good time. 

The turn out too was brilliant! We had a whole half of the restaurant to ourselves and we were all sat at varying sized tables throughout the area. No pub afterwards this time as we ended up finishing quite late. 

All in all, a really nice night.

March 2012 - The Khyber

The first Croydon Dinner Club

For the first dinner we went to The Khyber in Croydon's South End / Restaurant quarter.

On arrival we were greeted by very courteous staff who offered to take out jackets, coats and everything else. We were sat in one area of the restaurant (the far end in the picture) on one long table. 

We were given a special 3 course menu to select from which was all pretty good. The standard of the food was very good and was commented on by everyone. 

The turn out was great too, with a total of 16 people braving the cold to take part in the 1st event. We had a great mixture of people from all walks of life and all parts of Croydon. Some with a keen interest in the politics of Croydon, others with a warm fuzzy feeling in their hearts when they think of the place, others with a "pinch of salt" view of Croydon.

The food was great, the service was great as was the drink. Once we'd paid up we headed over to the Green Dragon pub for a few.

The first night went down really well and given that it was really grown out of thin air I was so overwhelmed with the turn out. I'd expected maybe 3 or 4 of my local friends or regular interactee's on Twitter, but it was so much more than that. People I'd never met before, people I'd seen talking in the Croydon Twitter-sphere, people not even on Twitter. It was great!