A Very Foodie Christmas

Here at Slow Food on Campus we decided to kick the festive season off with a bang and how better to do so than with a buffet from the indomitable Oddfellows?

As everyone knows all (good) Christmas meals should begin with cocktails. 

Not ones to interfere with tradition we headed up to the 1920s speakeasy themed upstairs bar - which I wasn’t aware existed (could this be a Christmas miracle!?) - we happily picked our way through Cocktail menu. I personally chose a “Clover Field” (pictured above). This drink included: Beefeater gin, Martini Bianco, Lemon and Homemade Raspberry & Mint Syrup. It was really delicious - none of the flavours overpowered each other, there was just a pleasant light aniseed-y after taste. 

Also pictured is the impressive looking “Zombie!” I’m so sad that I didn’t try this, I was torn between it and the Clover Club but I was intimidated by the sheer number of ingredients - to be fair there were 17! The drink I had was great but this one came with fire. Next time I go I will definitely be trying this out. 

We all sat around and got to know each other. One of the best things about Slow Food get-togethers is the mix of old faces and new and the guarantee that they're all going to be just as obsessed with food as you are!

After finishing the cocktails we took our seats downstairs and dived straight into the buffet. Yet again Oddfellows out did themselves as we were treated to platter after platter of delicious morsels.

I (Lucy) hadn't really known what to expect from a buffet - as a vegetarian of more than a decade, my experience of Christmas buffets is standing over a sad-looking table, elbows out ready to defend the lone margherita pizza in a crowd of pepperonis to the death. I was extremely pleasantly surprised. This wasn't so much a buffet - more of an all-you-can-eat extravaganza but with really good, local food! 

There was traditional fare, a personal favourite were the slices of bacon wrapped around turkey and stuffing which came with a pot of beautiful gravy to dip them in. There were also mounds of roast potatoes for us to dive into - these were also dipped into the gravy!

The food just kept on coming. There were terrine-laden crostini, homecured salmon, piles of fresh bread with a huge dish of melting butter and a rather random salad that didn't seem to fit with the Christmas dinner theme but there you go! 

(I was very happy to be surrounded by all the food!)

I'd like to say that it was a rather civilised affair with everyone taking delicate morsels from the platters and slowly sampling all there was to offer.

Instead, we positively dived in, with plates and platters being passed around constantly and piles of food being shovelled onto plates (guilty!) We ate rather late and were all absolutely ravenous, especially after the cocktails! 

Nevertheless there was definitely enough to go around and we were all practically groaning in our chairs by the end of it all (oh the bread and butter...)

We finished the meal with a very moreish chocolate moose topped with a tasty raspberry coulis.

To our absolute delight, we were all presented with an individual portion (no more snatching from platters and elbowing others out of the way!) It was thick, rich and smothered in raspberries and chocolate drops (there's a joke to be made there but I just can't bring myself to do it...)

For the first time in my life, I (Lucy) couldn't finish a chocolate pudding and had to hand the honours over to my boyfriend (who is usually the dainty eater so I was more than a little surprised when he ate all of his and then polished off mine too!)

Finally completely and utterly satiated, we leant back and spent the rest of the evening chatting away around bottles of wine until the restaurant closed.

It was an absolutely brilliant evening and it was so lovely meeting more of our lovely members!

Merry Christmas to everyone and we look forward to all our new Slow Food adventures in 2016!