I love going out for drinks and this week I feel like a proper gal about town. I went for supper in The Arch, Mayfair on Monday night, was out in thronging Covent Garden at The Porterhouse come Wednesday, will be at a house party tonight and then am making a visit to Mahiki (yes, Mahiki) on Sunday (we’ll gloss over the fact it’s a day time event and I’m taking the children because heck, it’s MAHIKI)! Anyone would think it’s Christmas with all these opportunities to have a glass of champers (or *three when I don’t have the children with me)!
I loved being in The Arch, we had a private dining room with a private living room attached to it and we had private waiters bringing us bubbles whenever we ran out. It was a very relaxed and very grown up evening. I’m sure I will also enjoy the house party I am going to tonight. It is being held by parents from school and although it will be vastly different from the house parties I went to ten years ago (and the private dining experience I had on Monday), I know this bunch, it will still be a PARTAY! I love a house party where everyone brings their own booze, nothing runs out and again, no one has to wait for drinks! In fact, it might be the waiting for drinks that makes going out in London just that little bit unbearable, standing at the bar all night and missing out on the conversation at the table not to mention not actually GETTING to drink something… You might think that’s what happened on my night out at The Porterhouse in Covent Garden but actually, you’d be wrong, that was another night this week where queueing at the bar was absolutely out of the question and I’ll tell you why if you read on!
So The Porterhouse on Wednesday night was absolutely thronging with people. Revellers out after office Christmas parties, tourists drinking up such a special central London location and *hipsters like me and my pals. When I arrived I found it hard to find my friends as it was literally packed to the brim and I had to go to the bar to ask if they knew where my gang were as we’d reserved an area. That, in itself took me about fifteen minutes and I didn’t even have a drink yet…
Still, I found them and had a glass of bubbles in hand within the next 5 because, I never went back to the bar again. Now how does that work I hear you ask? Did I stock buy when first there finding my friends? Absolutely not, how vulgar and like I said, I was drinking bubbles, they’d have gone flat! Nope, in step my new favourite app, Orderella! Orderella is a FREE to download app which works on iOS or Android and is located in about a hundred venues across the UK currently but that number is rising (check out the venues here). All you do is download the app, check in via their location based service and register once. Next you can browse the menu and order! It’s as simple as that!
Your drinks are brought to you as you type in your table number when you make your order and you don’t even have to take any money out with you because it all comes directly out of your account. It’s BRILLIANT! We never waited more than a few minutes for out drinks but if it takes a little longer than you expect you can even use the app to check on the order status and find out where it is! It is such an obvious idea but such a brilliant one!
A thronging bar in Covent Garden would usually make me turn and walk the other way. It’s not that I don’t like the atmosphere but I really can’t be bothered. Private dining with waiters is much more appealing (it must be the age) but knowing you can pretty much combine the two is very, very welcome! I don’t want to drink in a packed bar again unless they have Orderella!
*May be grossly under or over exaggerating but you will have to decide what and where! 😉
Orderella kindly took us out on their tab to show us the app which I have now told everyone about and will be using whenever I am in a bar that offers it! It’s literally one of the best apps I have ever come across – Oh! And thanks for the hang over kit, MOST appreciated…
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