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Bringing the dinner party back in the social media age

Gastropubs like the Irish Heather are increasingly popular as communal dining venues

In an age when what we really need is to put down our smart phones for a minute and just socialize, the long table is an idea whose time has come again.

I was recently fortunate enough to end up at Goldfish on a Saturday night. What was so fortunate was not just that the food was good, or that the waiter was on top of things, although those were both true. The real bit of luck was that when we arrived, all that was left was a “shared table”.

We ended up sitting with not one, but two parties of people we had never met before, and it was because of this that we had an excellent evening. It was something we never would have experienced if we had just been issued a table for two and called it a night.

More in Woman Eats City

The lost art of mac and cheese

Can increasingly commercialised restaurant formats mesh with our desire to be loved and comforted at the dining table?

Fusion fail: why restaurants should stick to getting one dish right

The term “fusion”, when related to food is becoming more and more of a dirty word in the dining scene.
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