Last weekend I did something I don’t often do: I went on a blind date. Well, not entirely blind (I’d seen photos) but a date nonetheless. But first dates are tricky things to administrate. Where to go? What to do? It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single man and woman meeting for the first time must be in possession of a large amount of alcohol. At the same time, the atmosphere must be conducive to talking and laughing, and sufficiently laid-back and busy that you can get up to… well, other things. First dates, however, are one of the few occasions on which food takes a back seat. Let’s face it, you’re too busy feeling nervous and trying to look thin to actually eat all that much anyway. Food, just this once, becomes little more than a necessary accoutrement to stave off certain drunkenness and give you something to do with your hands.
And so, in that sense, Festina Lente is perfect first date material. She (for first-date restaurants must be shes, somehow) exudes the kind of popular self-assurance you wish you did yourself; the waiting staff are surprisingly friendly (leaving you with none of those awkward how-to-complain-
in-front-of-a-complete-stranger-without-looking-like-an-uptight-expat moments); and the time it takes you to get a table (there are no reservations) is about as long as it takes to down a couple of nerve-calming glasses of wine. The food, however (or what I can remember of it) was less than great. Festina Lente works on a sort of tapas basis, with small, shareable portions. The caprese salad seemed to be undressed, the fish was overcooked, the bruschette tanged with raw ground onion perched on sliced supermarket bread, though the pasta was tasty. But no matter. The wine flowed (albeit in those silly children’s beaker glasses), as did the conversation. I have no idea how much it all cost, because I never got to see the bill.
My date (and I trust him on this because, soon after sitting down, he asked wryly: ‘do you think it’s rude to ask them if the mozzarella is buffalo?’ which made me smile and remember why I was there) assured me that Festina was just having an off-day, and that the food was usually of a much higher quality. I am inclined to go back and find out.