When restaurant No.Forty-6 called me to say they were doing a Wine & Workshop evening and did I want to attend? the answer was Yes, Yes, Yes!
I love No.Forty-6 anyway as it has great food, lovely ambience and my kind of interior, on-trend, smart and well designed. 6pm was the start time so I rocked up and thought it would be a mad room full of girls that hadn’t caught up for a year but no, I was pleasantly surprised. There were a few couples there wanting to enjoy an experience together as well as a huge table of women all happy to be sat enjoying the event over the next few hours.
The evening started with a glass of prosecco, followed by an intro from Lou at F is for Flower. Her vision was to work with all of us to create our own bouquet to take home and have a few courses of lovely tasting dishes throughout the evening. As the event kicked off we were presented with pan-seared cod cheeks with salt-cured beets, cherry toms and pancetta dust which was very nice. We then looked at our table all laid out with all the tools we needed to produce a nice bouquet, so we got to work. Our aim was to follow Lou and replicate what she showed us. Loving sunflowers myself I was delighted these were part of the bouquet. Using a central flower as a focal point we pulled in flowers next to it one by one. We then laid them down to eat our second course.
Pork belly and watermelon were next on the menu for us to try and it was so delicious with the mix of flavours using a sour and sweet combo. Loving samphire I was delighted with the next part of the menu as we tucked into pork belly, black tiger prawns, rump steak with garlic samphire and pomme puree. This was my favourite dish and I would happily eat that every day of the week! The steak was perfectly cooked and everything sat so well together on this plate. Lou popped back to show us how to wrap our bouquet and the final bits of the flower workshop and then we enjoyed eating our dessert of honey and lemon curd tart with fresh blueberries and elderflower syrup.
All the courses were genuinely tasty and a delight. Great effort had been put into the evening’s food. I caught up with Dee the co-owner of No.Forty-6 after eating my last spoonful of this heavenly sweet dish and we chatted about the interior upgrades that have occurred since it was last open before lockdown.
There is a new cork wall which really has a wow factor and has little pockets of plants all the way down. This building has really tall ceilings and so lends itself to a feature like this. The back far wall has had a refurb too with scaffold boards used to feature on the wall and have plants randomly popping out here and there. Dee is very creative and took on all the upgrades of the interior decor herself. The atmosphere of this eaterie is a good one as it works in the day and the evening when the lights drop low and candles are added to tables.
Lou from F is for Flower has been a florist all of her adult life. Starting out at a local florist and gaining experience over 6 years has allowed her to think about setting up her own business. You can find Lou on Instagram and she is using her cool style and focus to make up payday flowers which are beautiful so look out for that on Lou’s socials. The evening went so quickly, eating well-cooked food and then focusing on being creative with flowers that I wouldn’t have known 2.5 hours had passed so quickly! We had a glass of wine that complimented each dish of the evening and it really made the workshop I think.
Look out for more workshops from No.Forty-6 and definitely go in there to eat an evening meal as the food is so good and as this place was voted in 3 categories at the Southsea Folk Awards it means people out on the street believe this place is special too.
I paid to attend this event and all views are my own.
