Alternate Valentine's Dinner, Lesoco College

Carrot and coriander soup with a Parmesan straw

Last Friday night Becks and I kept tradition alive by going to the Alternate Valentine's Dinner at Lesoco College organised by the Mayor of Lewisham. It was a special night as it will be our only engaged valentine's together and we couldn't have spent it anywhere classier (!).

The big question was, would we win a prize in the raffle again?

The presentation of the food had definitely gone up a notch compared with the previous two years we have been to the college. I thought my salmon (below) looked especially good and the dessert had a bit of flair as well. The food tasted pretty good and I thought was more consistent than last year. I enjoyed the chervil veloute with the salmon, the sauce that came with the chicken and also the yoghurt parfait for dessert.

The service was as keen and eager to please as previous years, but also a little hap hazard. Basic waiting skills follow a few simple rules that I wouldn't have thought would be too hard to teach the students, but perhaps it is harder than it looks!

Despite much anticipation we didn't win a prize in the raffle this year and the wedding will be a lot poorer without the CD of love songs that we could have won!

After a couple of years of umming and ahing Becks introduced herself to mayor Steve on the way out. I think he enjoyed the local government love in and the fact that the Alternate Valentines Dinner was watching a relationship blossom. Here's to our first married valentine's dinner next year!

Poached salmon with crushed peas, chervil veloute and pea shoots

Roasted chicken with sweet potato, giroles and baby onions

Poached berries, lemon curd, chocolate mousse and yoghurt parfait