On Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to an event at the new room2 hometel in Southampton (it’s like a hotel but all of the rooms have kitchens and some have multiple bedrooms!) to join in on the Southampton Hospital Charity ‘Dine at mine’ fundraising campaign.
The new room2 hometel opened about two weeks ago – and luckily for me (considering it has an awesome lounge, bar and coffee area) it’s only one road away from my flat! The interiors are so cool and quirky and the bedroom styling has taken inspiration from cruise liners with their industrial steps and porthole-esque circular murals (not to mention lots of plants, so it felt like a home from home for me!)
We had a tour of the hotel and rooms – it’s a very impressive concept, with 71 rooms that come in a variety of sizes; from snug studios to larger suites with two beds across mezzanine floors (but all with kitchens, king-size beds and the opportunity to bring your pets along!). One of the purposes of the evening was to show just how versatile the rooms are by inviting none other than Shelina Permaloo from Masterchef to whip up a three-course meal in one of the rooms! Shelina runs the very successful ‘Mauritian street kitchen’ Lakaz Maman in Southampton – I’ve eaten there twice now and both times the food has been utterly incredible, so I knew we were in for a treat.
As you can see, the menu looked absolutely mouthwatering, and as soon as we entered the room we were met with the most irresistible smells (and our glasses immediately topped up with prosecco!)
Before we got stuck in we learned more about the fundraising campaign that the event was a part of. Southampton Hospital Charity are currently running an incredibly important and worthwhile appeal to raise money to develop a children’s emergency and trauma department. It was actually quite emotional hearing the charity speak passionately about their aspirations to provide a state-of-the-art area for children and their families who require urgent care. As many of us in attendance either have children (or friends with children) who live in the Southampton area it’s a charity which I definitely felt was close to many of our hearts.
As soon as the food was brought to us I think it’s fair to say that all of our jaws hit the table! The starter of Buffalo Cauliflower was amazing, with so many different flavours – the coconut prawns that the others chose was also a big hit! I then had Red Snapper Mauritian Curry with turmeric and cumin rice and roasted aubergine. This was also just absolutely incredible – it sounds obvious to say but it was so, so tasty – I can be a little simplistic with the flavours I cook at home so it was almost overwhelming to taste all of the different ingredients and spices.
The dessert was the undeniable piece de resistance – we were all served individual ‘chai tiramisini’, with sponge, liquer and edible flowers. And then appeared the most amazing fruit platter I have ever seen, complete with chocolate dipping sauce…
Aren’t all of those colours amazing? It was an utterly stunning arrangement.
All in all the evening was just perfect – the hotel, the food, and obviously hearing about the hard work of the charity. It was also so much fun to spend some quality time with some lovely local bloggers.
After the meal was over, Alice, Amy and I went for a drink in the awesome bar, and they kindly switched on Love Island for us! Is there anything better than hanging out with awesome ladies with a glass of prosecco and some trashy TV?
(I should add that I accidentally left my memory card at home so all of these are from my phone – so if the quality is different then I apologise – but I hope not as I am totally in love with my Google Pixel!)
