We went out with our close friend Philippa last night in part to celebrate my one year alcohol free. We chose to go to Cafe Parfait in Southampton, which we went to once over a year ago and really enjoyed.
After a few bottles of Becks Blue, a delicious Spaghetti Bolognaise and some choice music courtesy of my iPod, we started to get ready for the evening.
After the girls meticulously applied their make up, decided what to wear with great difficulty and emerged from the bedroom as a stunning pair of beauties, I threw on a nice shirt, had a shave and put my dress shoes on in case the bouncers had an issue with the boots I normally wear. We jumped on a late night bus which was running on time for a change (probably because it was about 2130 and everyone was already out). We shortly arrived in Southampton and walked the remaining distance to Cafe Parfait itself.
Sadly, the bouncers were preoccupied with turning people away due to a ‘leak’ somewhere which required they close until 2315. This meant that our “Free Entry” tickets would be useless as they expired at 2300. So, with disappointment in our hearts we settled for the nearby “Goblets” where we proceeded to have a couple of drinks and try to hear each other over the extremely loud people on the table next to us. The fact that they actually had Becks Blue (alcohol free) was great and my wife Tracey and I had the last couple of bottles! I remembered fondly visiting this bar many years ago before it ‘modernised’ with another close friend and having a pint of Guinness which the bartender poured with a shamrock on the head!.
Afterwards, we walked back to Cafe Parfait and managed to use our Free Entry tickets after all as it was not our fault that they opened later thankfully. We walked to the bar and Tracey ordered a “Mocktail” (alcohol free cocktail) from the bar for us, though unfortunately the bar staff didn’t have a clue what she was talking about and called for (who we assumed to be) management and explained that we had been told via their Facebook page that they “served a mean mocktail”. She countered with the sad fact that they did not in fact serve mocktails but would happily make a normal cocktail off their menu and omit the alcohol (which was good enough for me! and it was about half the price of the ‘normal’ cocktail) Tracey ordered us the “Tornado” which consisted of crushed fruit (Orange and Passion Fruit), Pineapple juice and topped with lemonade or soda water (i’m not sure which) which turned out to be delicious!.
We went to sit on the roof terrace where we sat last time but it had been raining hard and the whole area was almost underwater, so I removed my leather jacket and placed it on the wet seat for the girls and I perched on the dryest part of the wooden seat where luckily for me someone had already sat there and absorbed the worst of the water!. As time went on, it got quite busy and I had one more drink (Orange and Passionfruit J20) and started to feel distinctly claustrophobic so we all decided to go home early.
Walking to the nearby Taxi rank, we overheard something none of us expected this time of year and it jarred us badly: Slade singing “Merry Christmas Everybody” from Yates over the road.
Christmas songs in the middle of November? Really?.
With this horror fresh in our minds we managed to find a free taxi and jumped in.
A quick taxi ride later, and we arrived back home and Philippa decided to treat us to a Pizza (after some confusion over whether the restaurant was actually open or not which it finally turned out to be), then we enjoyed a ludicrously unhealthy pizza while watching the brilliant “Shaun of the Dead” before eventually retiring for the night at around 0400 and I sat in bed reading “Doctor Sleep” before finally succumbing to sleep.
Being able to wake up the following morning without a hangover after a great night was fantastic! it had been so long since we all went out as friends and this was a great night enjoyed by all.
To anyone reading this looking for a great night (even if you are alcohol free), I highly recommend Cafe Parfait (no mocktails not withstanding) it has good music, a great atmosphere, entertainment on Saturday nights consisting of magicians, acrobats and drummers (though sadly none of these appeared to be present during our visit) and they will happily make you a non-alcoholic cocktail if you ask.
Well, that was our Saturday night! Hope you enjoyed the read!.
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