Carrickfergus Sailing Club, Retired Dancers Social Group held a Mayday reunion dinner at the club; on Saturday 1st May believe it or not. Twenty members met in the bar for a pre prandial drink (or two) and to catch up with the local gossip.
As is usual for these functions the Maestro (Linden Graham in his other life) had emailed or phoned the menu to all concerned and, so that could be no squabbling, printed each out each couples choice. It goes without saying that there was still one dispute as to whether this was correct (no names no pack drill).
As this is posted to the Eating Out section I suppose I had better comment on the catering. We had selected the chicken liver pate with hot buttered toast and plum chutney to start. The pate was tasty and the toast hot, although I was not keen on the plum chutney (I am not keen on chutneys anyway) Josephine finished hers and pronounced it very good.
I did not get any reports on the soup but there were rave reports on the deep fried breaded Garlic Mushrooms with dressed salad and garlic dip. we had also both chosen the same main, the selection of fresh sea-food (salmon, smoked haddock, king tiger prawns) in a white wine and butter sauce topped with mash and oven baked. There is only one word – sublime. The sides, chips, garlic sautéed potatoes and a selection of vegetables could not be faulted for either presentation or quality. The vegetables were cooked just to perfection. I cannot vouch for the other choices which included Chicken, pork loin or sirloin but the consensus was that it would have been hard to fault. Sweets included bread and butter pudding and apple pie with cream or ice cream.Again there were no complaints and we finished off with teas and coffees. Where else can you get a 3 course meal plus coffee for £25 a couple (three quid extra for the sirloin). Add to the this the club bar prices and you have a great evening out at a very reasonable price (even if you have to factor in taxis).
We then had to work off the calories and the music took over.
Some of us attempted to recall all the various dances we had learnt in the not very distant past. I will not comment on how well we managed this.
All in all a great evening in excellent company.
Congratulations to all who contributed and also to the catering staff who produced and served such an excellent meal.