Friday Night Socials, Trafalgar Square

Sabrina Ghayour’s menu at Peyton and Byrne’s Friday Night Social was a resounding success. If my own palate is to be questioned, Sabrina’s Persian menu was treated to high praise by Oliver Peyton (founder of Peyton and Byrne and present at dinner with fellow Great British Menu judge Matthew Fort), who tweeted: ‘Sabrina is the Queen of Persian food’.

Friday Night Socials are held at the National Café in the National Gallery, which is a suitably cultured location for Oliver Peyton’s celebration of good food with great company. After cocktails and canapés consisting of a chilled pistachio soup shot; tomato, sumac and pomegranate crostini; and delicious sour cherry and dill meatballs, we went to sit at the communal tables for the main course. My favourite was undoubtedly the Persian lamb stew, or khoresh-e-zardaloo, which was cooked to perfection and oozed saffron and apricot flavours. Also served were roasted poussins with lemon and harissa, sweet barberry rice, pomegranate tabbouleh in lettuce cups and maast-o-khiar, yoghurt with cucumber, raisins, fresh and dried mint and rose petal powder. For dessert was fresh mint tea and spiced carrot, pistachio and almond cake with rosewater cream and pistachios.

The food was a welcome assault on the senses and the flavours were beautifully balanced. The choice of food worked so well in the social surroundings – as Sabrina said; Persian food is designed to be shared. Iranian Sabrina is a self-taught cook, which makes her success even more impressive – something which she says has been ‘a long time coming’. She holds regular supper clubs at her London home, so if Persian and Middle Eastern food gets your taste buds tingling, then this is the woman to hunt down.

The National Café is Oliver Peyton’s creation and scene of the Friday Night Socials. The last Social of this year has passed but the events will recommence in January with a new top chef each week. The idea behind the Friday Night Socials is – in Oliver Peyton’s words – to unite ‘the best elements of the London dining scene: spectacular food, wine and cocktails, interesting conversation, culture, together with passionate and talented people’. For anyone who loves good food and good conversation, the Friday Night Socials are certainly the place to go and in true supper club style, you never know who you will be sat next to.

Both the format of Peyton and Byrne’s Friday Night Socials and Sabrina Ghayour’s food come thoroughly recommended and for the bargain price of £25 per head (which includes cocktail, canapés and dinner), it is little wonder that tickets sell out like hot meatballs.

Peyton and Byrne’s Friday Night Socials take place at:

The National Café East Wing
The National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
WC2N 4DN

Tel: 020 7747 5942