The St. Helier restaurant is holding a ‘First Date’ dinner for food-loving singletons next month – an idea from Head Chef Lee Smith after the restaurant had a number of requests for a speed-dating night. Events Manager, Kate Stephan told Express: “We’ve never done a singles night but had lots of requests to do one. We are not the ‘speed-dating’ type of restaurant so our Head Chef suggested a dinner date like ‘First Dates’ but matches are made based on people’s love of food.”
Apparently Lee is a fan of the Channel 4 show and felt Ormer could cook up more than a fabulous three course-menu on the night. But where the restaurant may have all the ingredients for the dishes – they are missing one vital ingredient for the dates… men.
Pictured: Ormer match the dinner-date applicants on their food preferences (Ormer).
30 women aged between 18 and 72 have applied for the first-date dinner event, but only six men have put themselves forward to meet the lovely ladies. Kate thinks the gender imbalance could be down to the restaurant’s social media reach, as most of their followers on Facebook are women. She hopes more men will find the courage to sign up for the evening by the end of the week by filling out the form online, which the restaurant then use to pair the couples up.
“The matches aren’t on looks, it’s done on their age-range request, hobbies and food preferences (…) it gives us a sense of what kind of person they are” says Kate.
Pictured: Ormer has had 30 women apply for the ‘First Date’ dinner event but only six applications from men (Ormer).
The dinner guests receive a glass of champagne on arrival and enjoy a three-course dinner with their perfect match. They will also receive a ‘safe’ word they can use to alert restaurant staff in case “they are feeling really uncomfortable and want to finish the date” added Kate.
The old adage ‘the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ may not be ringing as true as Ormer hoped it would, but they still believe it will be an enjoyable evening for the couples paired up. The restaurant hopes to hold more ‘first date’ nights so all of the people who have applied will find their perfect dinner partner in the near future.