Summer Loving | Summer Party

Tuesday 4th July

Bernardi’s Dog House Room:  Marylebone W1.

Summer Parties! In the depths of winter just the thought of them can be one of the things that keep you keeping on. Trouble is, come the summer there are just too many of them. Diaries are packed, statement events are booked; we are all looking tippety-top in our sun-kissed summer best; now, can we fit them all in.

Not to be outdone, Rendezvous pulled out all the stops to make sure our party was a date not to be missed.   So fair play to all of those guests who tore themselves away from earlier engagements to join us. Never have we run a party where such a large amount of guests turned up over half way through the event!   Stragglers until late….in the bar till late, well someone had to keep them company!

The evening kicked off with a pre-event soiree for our Club Members hosted by our delightful friend and Date Coach Ané Auret.   Ané specializes in helping women find love all over again.  Turning a possible negative into a positive, she muses that we should never imagine that the best relationship is behind us; au contrair! The best is yet to come.   I couldn’t agree with her more.  I looked around the room at all the fabulous looking women; confident, smart, parents of accomplished children, financially secure … and thought “you men have got some amazing women here to choose from; you better get cracking and take some phone numbers!!”

Bernardi’s has become a firm favourite with our crew.  Not only does it reside in the newly-formed Portman Estate’s chic street Seymour Place, but they have the coolest interior and we get to have our very own room – the naughty corner in the basement bar, complete with an outside courtyard that was clearly the place to be.  ‘You will always find me in the courtyard at parties’, as Jonah Louie would have sung had he been there, and boy, he should have been.

We were greeted with a glass of prosecco and then treated to a procession of gorgeous canapés.   Assiette after assiette of delicious nibbles – from bruschetta to arancini, to delicious amuse-bouches and then teeny mouthfuls of pudding too.   Lemon meringue mini tarts anyone? I almost forgot I had given up sugar – oh go on, just the one….munch.

Just to add a little bit more fun to our Summer Loving theme our star guest was the Photo Booth.  Those clever creatives at Momentus Photo Booths dropped by and set up a party-sized booth, complete with two cheeky chappies on hand to answer any questions.  With a glass of confidence inside us and the party in full swing beside us, the Photo Booth is the guest that just keeps on giving; it’s the ice-breaker that takes the must-have pictures.  And the photos are spectacularly flattering; everyone looks a better/younger/thinner version of themselves.  And they’re always fun for everyone, whether you’re 5 or 105 years old.

I think you’ll agree we all looked like we were having a fabulous time.  One or two in the booth – or maybe let’s just see if we can squeeze in five.  What a hoot.   And who had the most photo stand-offs?  Was it Lou Lou or was it Richard? No, having his photo taken for a change, it was Rendezvous’ fave photographer Stevie Roberts, that’s who!

So there we have it, Summer Loving, it was a blast, Summer Loving it happened so fast.   Summer days drifting away, oh ho for the summer nights.

Wella, wella…have an amazing summer everyone – looking forward to seeing you all in September.

Boisdale: The Art of Gin Cocktail Making

Tuesday 6^th June.

If you think Rendezvous is just about matchmaking people – you’re partly right but we’re also pride ourselves in being pretty good at matching ourselves to brands to give our singles the best possible backdrop to a perfect social night out.

Boisdale’s last week was a balmy summer evening, buzzing, boisterous and bubblicious a bloody-brilliant Thomas Dakin Gin event in the back bar.  The effervescent and contagiously-enthusiastic head of events for Boisdale the delicious Mark Shelton and I hatched a plan a few months back to do a mash-up of our two members clubs.  Boisdale members to be mixed with Rendezvous club members.

This mix-up theme got our crew mixing cocktails.  And they got really involved!  Thomas Dakin Gin curator Alix Walker in his flat cap and waistcoat, shared his stuff about the history of Gin. Thomas Dakin was an entrepreneur and a forefather of Gin in the 18^th Century.  At the time only the Dutch were dabbling with the stuff and calling it Juniper; the Brits took the fluff out of that name and got it down to a neat abbreviation that would roll off the tongue in any state of inebriation.  Cheers.

Our crew got to work behind the bar, shaking, swizzling and stirring in pairs, freshly  prepared cocktails were passed to new friends but some were just too good to give up!

Whatever happened the combination of mixing, stirring, muddling and laughing made for a superbly good fun night.  And just to conclude my theme on all things good starting with B (modest moi?) …can we just say Boisdale Belgravia – Back Bar….the coolest little cocktail bar in town.

Here’s the creations that Alix himself came up with and we got to shake up.

The Manchester Bee
Serve in Coupettes or Martini glasses

• 35ml Thomas Dakin Gin
• 2 tsp of honey
• 25ml lemon juice

In a shaker stir honey with the Thomas Dakin gin until dissolved, add the rest of the ingredients.  Shake or stir with ice and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with thin orange wheel float.

Tom’s Spritz
Serve in a Casablanca style glass/tall rocks glass.

• 35ml Thomas Dakin Gin
• Sugar syrup
• Ground Black pepper
• Basil
• Lemon juice

In a glass pop the basil first and muddle, followed by the black pepper, Gin and sugar syrup and top up with your favourite mixer.   Ours was by fab mixers Brand Merchants Heart in their lemon flavour.

We had such fun with Boisdale we will be having another event in August.  If you would like to be on the waitlist for the event as it sold out quickly.  Please email barbara@rendezvous-london.com

Tuesday 21st March.  Styling with Suitsupply City Store 

Above the of hum drum of chatting members in this swish outfitter our darling friend and resident Dapper Cad (Jonathan) JT hosted our event with a focus on men’s date-wear.   It was JT who introduced us to slick Dutch tailor Suitsupply and what a great introduction it turned out to be.  I imagine fans of the brand are not too thrilled that we are divulging this little gem of a secret stylish product that utterly screams tailor-made but for a snip of the price.

Five of our fabulous guests/models took the plunge for makeover.  Well done men for being such sports.  Jonathan and his team of Suitsupply experts introduced the men as they were and then took them back stage (well into dressing rooms) and proceeded with a complete change of look.

Bring on the boys for a quick twirl (or bow) and then into the audience for a chat while their new look settled into our viewers focus.  The audience voted for the man who best suited their new look.  Not who was most dapper or who wore the suit best – but who was completely transformed by their new look.   The results were amazingly even – I suspect lots of friends were there voting for their friends as good friends should!  But our Construction Company owner Jake wowed the crowds with his just-got-off-a-yacht in Cannes look and won by just a tip of his Panama hat.  What fun – and he got to choose a dapper blazer to compliment his new look.

While the winners whirled, the stylish men grabbed their girls…. oops I mean their jackets – we clip-clopped off to the fabulous Bar20. What a welcome we got Mariusz, Massimo, Massimiliano and Andrea presenting us with an array of Gin cocktails delicious and perfectly paired by Sipsmith Gin.

The Dapper Cad, Tactile Property and Made to Measure exquisitely tailored for our members with divine spring flavours including strawberry, rhubarb and lavender.

Talking of Spring I do hope you’re joining us for our famous Franco’s Rose Wine Tasting it’s on the 26^th of April; tickets are available now.