Lockets review – don’t miss out on our first trip to this new venue

Going with the flow at Locket’s

St James’s regulars would have observed the transformation of one of London’s most beloved architectural icons, the Economist HQ, designed by the husband and wife duo of Alison & Peter Smithson in 1964.  After a loving restoration, the building is now fondly known as Smithson Plaza.

Nestled central stage is Locket’s restaurant/wine bar – its arrival is attributed to Locket Hambro, the great-granddaughter of Olaf Hambro who bought Wilton’s, London’s second oldest restaurant, over 275 years ago, and whose family has run it along with Franco’s, a few doors down, ever since.

Positioned as a more casual alternative, the restaurant is a café by day, serving breakfast and light lunch options before being gently transformed into a wine bar and casual dining by night. We visited for lunch and picked a selection of sharing plates off the daily changing menu, in addition to the salads served buffet-style from the counter, everything presented and served to Franco’s-style perfection. Given that it was a diary-crammed December, our lunch inexorably slid into a separate coffee meeting, significantly changed-up when our guest decided to order several glasses of champagne – who were we to argue! Such is the alluring charm of the versatile Locket’s, part restaurant, part wine bar, you never know where the mood is going to take you – ‘going with the flow’ had never been so endearing!

 

Fabulous Festive at No, Fifty Cheyne

Festive at No, Fifty Cheyne, 3rd December

What a fabulous time we had on Tuesday night at No. Fifty Cheyne, so much so, it was difficult to leave its settle-in-for-the-night charms!

 

We were greeted with a delicate china teacup of mulled wine and scrumptious Christmas mince pies by head chef Iain Smith.  Plus, a delicious warm welcome from our favourite hostess Bethany Russell.  Anyone who comes to our parties will know that Bethany and I have a bit of a fan club with each other – we love her, and she loves Rendezvous and our cheeky bunch of characters.  We’ve followed her from Franco’s to The Goat, to Aquavit and she’s unfailingly there to help create glorious, elegant, fun-filled parties – thank you Bethany!

 

Bethany’s good friend actor/singer Anton Stephan’s joined us to entertain us with some sassy show tunes and in show topping sparkly pants he did just that!  He fun-handled the guests into moving and shaking, in such party spirit and high energy, he was quite irresistible.  Our guests love to dance, and our February party will be all about that, see details on our events page.

 

No Fifty Cheyne, is a complete makeover of what used to be the Cheyne Walk Brasserie, originally created in 2004 by Sally Greene, who also owns the Old Vic and Ronnie Scott’s. With its elegant townhouse style, it has clearly been carried out with love and style.  We can’t wait to go back.

Some Lovely Feedback –

“What a perfect venue for Christmas drinks, thank you for organising it. I very much enjoyed last night’s party together with the added excitement of the entertaining singer, where did he get those sequined leggings?!  As usual a lovely atmosphere and an interesting mix of friendly people. “

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“Thank so much for last night: really enjoyed myself. I was suffering a bit today!”

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“Thanks for the warm welcome last night. I thought you threw a great get together!”

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“Anton was the best decision! and I can’t believe how wonderful he was at getting all the barriers broken down and getting people to dance.  It was super cute.

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“Thanks so much for lovely party last night! Look forward to next Rendezvous party.”

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Rendezvous at The Wellington 4th September

The Wellington Club | 91 Jermyn Street | St. James’s | SW1Y 6JB

We gave it some ‘Welly’ in true Rendezvous style!

Anyone with a penchant for partying during the noughties will remember The Wellington in Knightsbridge, established way back in 1832, a famous bolthole for decadence and debauchery – with a who’s who list of artists, musicians and actors making up the membership. After a stop for a breather, the founders have relocated to an ever-sophisticated St James’s. The newest iteration of The Wellington is a grown-up, fully formed version, complete with all of the earlier Welly’s naughty spirit!

Hellfire greeted us; a spectacular perk you up cocktail created exclusively for us.  And as the crowd started gathering, we snaffled up lots of delicious canapes gorgeously created by renowned chef, Brett Duarte, whose style is Modern European dishes of the highest quality made from locally sourced produce.  There to be something for everyone in this crowd-pleasing selection.

We then split into two groups, divided up by lovely Lou – who is an excellent direct-tress.  The first group became our art lovers’ and were treated with a private tour with fascinating art curator, Leo Babsky who introduced us to The Wellington Club’s selection of works acquired by Jake Panayiotou, including a Damien Hirst painted directly on the wall!  Leo has curated an eclectic collection mixing up original pieces with his own style, completely fitting for the glam new space.

The second bunch joined in with a cocktail demonstration – making that perky damson of a cocktail Hell Fire.  Jun, the master mixologist mixed it up, he is a true showman. And then one of us got to try making it too; there were no shortage of hands up for that job.

As the two tribes got back together and settled in for the night….and settled in…. further….I was happy to report that there were a large merry bunch perched at the main bar, even as I left after 11pm.   Looking forward to spending much more time at this glamorous, friendly and welcome newcomer.

For membership details please contact Grace Sullivan grace@thewellington.club

 

 

Some Lovely Feedback –

Good morning Barbara,

What a lovely and lively event you organised, thank you! I liked the venue and it is certainly a place I would like to revisit again.  I enjoyed myself and I was also pleased to see a few familiar faces.

Warmest regards

P x

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Hi Barbara,

I haven’t seen you at all tonight & I would have loved to. 😊

On my way back, thank you so much. I have spent a really lovely evening & have met a lot of nice people.

I hope to have a chance to speak to you more next time! 😉

B x

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Barbara

Great evening thank you so much thought your daughter & her friend were gorgeous. Loved the Wellington and the Art Curator & the whacky collection…fabulous and look forward to your next event.

P xx

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Hey Barbara thanks again for the invite to last night’s event which I really enjoyed!

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Summer Member’s Party

Home House.  20 Portman Square.  London W1

What a blast we had last night, at what will be the first of many joint parties with posh match-making agency Vida, Elite Singles the online app for singles that truly do want a serious relationship and our very own Rendezvous – that fabulous place to meet long-time friends, business acquaintances and perhaps a fine romance.

 

Vida’s welcoming crew was downstairs at the glam entrance of Home House – which so many of you are members of – it really is so social we should have a Rendezvous discount!  Our very own Lou Lou was handing out complimentary drinks passes.  That’s a dangerous mixture, Lou Lou and the drinks trolley – I’m pleased to report she kept the party spirit up high, what’s not to like about that task!

 

The party rocked on, or squished on, 120 people between two rooms is not easy to navigate. But finding love isn’t either, so why not leave a little bit to chance or fate.

 

And there was a game.  The idea was that you take your card full of coloured stickers and stick them to someone’s card of the opposite sex, exchanging their coloured sticker with yours.  You should end up with a card full of stickers of a different colour.  A great way for combat sticking, I’d say.  The prize was an uber swanky perfume for the person with the most accomplished…er sticker book!

 

We were so proud of our Rendezvous members in the room, not in the slightest bit discouraged at the sight of no regulars in the room – they smiled on, chatting with new people, especially those who had never been to an event for single people before.  We met lots of new friends and extended lots of invites to our Rendezvous parties.  Roll on the next one.

 

If you’d like to join our next members party membership details are on our membership page.

Our Rosé Revolution Party

Rosé Revolution Party   Thursday 2^nd May 2019

Every year we look forward to the spring, the warm, longer days and Franco’s rosé wine list launch, unofficially considered the start of the summer season! What could be more agreeable than enjoying a crisp glass of rosé accompanied by delicious canapés chosen from the largest restaurant selection of international rosé wines in Europe (seventy to be exact.)

Franco’s party is now in its 11^th year and Rendezvous never being one to miss an opportunity is in its third year of our fabulous Rosé Revolution wine tasting.  A party of our very own in a private room and set up off the back of the launch party held during the same week.

Looking around the room and at the glistening pink bottles I had to think…. that’s a whole lot of tasty beverage – no hold fire (literally) I’m in the wrong film reference ….this is no Pulp Fiction of a night, I am certain there’s going to be some True Romance!

Franco’s Restaurant Manager Samir AitAftis, (Sam) spoke about the event and introduced the night and how the party had come about and the extensive list we would be tasting.  We had our own bespoke tasting booklets to make notes, perfect for flirty comparative conversation later….

We were wowed with delicious canapes including smoked salmon with crème fraiche & chive, saffron arancino, Parma ham & taleggio and ricotta & spinach tortellini.

As the evening was winding up, we collected up a bunch of business cards and drew the prize out of a champagne bucket (of course we did) Angela won the dinner for four generously donated by Franco’s.  I wonder who she chose to go along with her?!

Thank you to Franco’s wonderful team, you are a true credit to your business and thank you for allowing Rendezvous to be included as part of the unofficial start to the season …..Jason, Georgie, Samir, Julia