A Very Durham Dinner

A dinner party in Durham is an art form of pretentiousness, almost unavoidable amongst the boarders and the privately educated, and my experience certainly didn’t disappoint. 7 Anchorage terrace has been hosting dinners for some time now and have amassed a good following of people eager to make the invite list. It was my pleasure to be one of the lucky few.

The evening began in the scenic garden driveway, with a lovely aperitif of the wine and the classic talk of how everyone came to meet. The crisps and salsa were thoroughly enjoyed despite my head resting a little too close to the overflowing bins. We then made our way to the garden, and the evening kicked off with a fairly rigged game of who knew the housemates better. Unsurprisingly, the housemates won. And in true university fashion, it wouldn’t be a game without a forfeit for the loser – thank God I only came second to last, I don’t think the shark costume would’ve gone well with my outfit.

As dinner was served, we were told we could not start before the mandatory wine chop. A device had been invented to help a bottle go down in less than 5 seconds, or in Ned’s case, 20 (poor form). Hands were held and grace was said, although not verbatim, I’m sure, to the true Catholic tradition. All props to the chef for slow roasting beef fit for 10 people, not your average uni struggle meal, and certainly a welcome change from my usual diet, particularly the dauphinoise potatoes which were a highlight. If I told any of my friends from other unis that I was casually dining on a roast of beef and dauphinoise I think they would look at me like I had 10 heads.

Post dinner with all the wine dutifully downed, we were brought back outside for whiskey and a cigar. Now, Lord knows I can get behind a cheeky cig but this was a tad ridiculous. $5 from the fine shops of Guatemala, it was an imported luxury I was told, as stories from garp yars in South America and South East Asia were swapped and collected over the homemade brownies, which I must say, were brilliant. With shots being brought round by the dozen, it dawned on our hosts that Mario kart must be played, and in my drunken state, I thought I would be brilliant (I lost both times). I blame it on the fact that the switch is weird. After many a round had been played and more forfeit shots had been consumed, KOBs was calling, and we had to answer. It was Friday after all. All in all, I’d say, it was a very Durham dinner, and a perfect Durham evening. All thanks to Anchorage for hosting, I will dream about those potatoes for a while.

Visit the post at @anchorage.dinner.club