Preview Week......

This week has flown by us here at number eighteen. Saturday and Sunday were spent unpacking our beautiful new kitchen, cleaning and putting everything in its right place. Countless pairs of hands on deck, and hours of elbow grease have left us with a stunning new open kitchen, on view to the whole restaurant. The beginning of the week saw stress levels peak, but adrenaline took over, and the excitement and buzz of the preview nights caught hold of everyone like a fever! By Tuesday afternoon, we were a little unsure as to whether or not we would have a restaurant to set! There were builders everywhere, tying up loose ends, electricians blowing fuses, plumbers fixing sinks, and an eager, enthusiastic team front of house who couldn’t wait to get stuck in to clean the place up! All in all, it was chaos – bodies everywhere! Nevertheless, despite a little wager placed between Steve and our friend James Suter (who was convinced it wouldn’t come together) the team pushed on to create a beautiful surrounding for our family and friends on Tuesday night. We had a banquet served for our first thirty-six guests and it was a roaring success... although there are plenty of things to be ironed out, it was great to get the whole team working together for the first time.
At the end of the night, there was a sigh of relief, followed by a quick pep-talk to prepare the team for the following day! Wednesday morning was slightly soul destroying to see the beautiful restaurant overrun once again by the building crew, but the team pushed on, and did it once again! Once the skirting boards were cleaned, and windows polished, the tables laid, and the pre-dinner cocktails underway, everyone was set to go and all fired up.
Both of our previews were a great opportunity to run through samples from our menus, and the feedback from our guests has been great! So, onwards and upwards, we’re making some changes, and putting the final touches to our service. The builders are almost done with the snagging, so all things going well, we should be good to go for our first official night of service, on Wednesday 9th June.