Twas a dark and stormy night……………………..
You remember the high winds and rain from a week or so back, right? Yeah, that was the night of our much-anticipated drive n dine ‘steak night’ event!
The most brave showed up in their club supercars, others in their dailys, but all with a mission to not let the weather get the better of us!
Around 50 of us met at various meet points, as we gathered for an hour’s spirited drive, taking in Hampshire through to Surrey.
OK, so maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go out in these high winds, but we patted ourselves on the back when we finally got to our secret ‘steak speciality’ restaurant in Surrey. We had privately reserved the entire restaurant for our event!
After an hour’s banter in the now packed bar area, it was time to sit down for the meal that everyone had been starving themselves all day for.
We’d taken orders in advance so this saved time on the night, the restauranteur just needed to make sure we knew which table the event guests were seated on.
With this complete the team disappeared into the kitchens to start doing what they do best.
And then………………….. Boom, the lights went out in the restaurant……..
All that could be heard in the darkness was Greg in the background saying “ah oh, that’s not good!”
Out came everyone’s phone torches and we could see everyone facing up to eating their food in candlelight! Quite nice and atmospheric perhaps? The ovens were gas-fired so all looked good….
That was up and to the point we discovered the kitchen, ovens, and extractors were all powered by electricity!
“ah oh!” we heard again….
After some more banter and stumbling around in the dark, Greg piped up once more… “unless those lights come back on, sadly we won’t be eating here tonight” 🙁
The reality was just about to set in when the lights came back on! “Hurrah, clapping and cheering came from the hungry club members! “oh thank goodness” we heard Greg mutter under his breath!
And then……….boom, the lights went out again…… This time they didn’t come back on again….
It was time for the organised among us to reach for their phones and start getting their evening meal booked in elsewhere. Some found other steak restaurants, some resorted to fish and chips on the way home.
We reflected back the next day of the night before and the feedback was very positive! Everyone had in fact had a great night!
It was a first for the club in all these years, a great event, that didn’t actually happen!