#AD / Zouk’s 7th Birthday Party

I joined Yelp a while back but only started making an attempt to add my reviews to it recently. I noticed an event to celebrate Zouk’s 7th birthday and thought I’d tag along and meet some of the Yelp community. I’ve been to Zouk twice and have enjoyed their food very much both times, so looked forward to a fun evening.

Interior

I arrived in Zouk and was given a flower wreath to commemorate the occasion. I walked in and was in looked around; this was clearly going to be one massive event. Not knowing anyone, I was kind of stumped for things to do. I approached an area which looked like they were serving drinks and approached, only to asked to hand in a card. A card? I was confused. The man then said I was to get them from the reception area. Oops! Totally missed that! Went and got myself signed in where I was given a leaflet for a free drink, as well as a card for an additional drink. I then walked back and got my cocktail and then wandered around trying to figure out what to do.

I spoke to a group and asked if they were Yelpers. Nope.. they weren’t. And once again I was left to my own devices. I must have looked like a dumb nutter attending an event by myself. It was at this point that I took a seat by the entertainment area and started loading the Yelp app. I messaged a fellow Yelper who had befriended me prior and asked if he was at the event. He was! I walked to try and find him and couldn’t manage it, then he found me! He then told me where the other Yelpers were, and it was only at this point that the evening changed to a more positive one.

There was plenty of entertainment, including dancers, henna artist, a fire-eater (who was cool!) and a DJ. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy much of these due to initial anxiety at not knowing anyone. By the time I found the group, I was reluctant to move away.

The Drink and canapes

Tropical cocktail with a spicy thing in a shot glass

The drink was very nice, I’m not quite sure which one I tried, though. I suspect it was the Summer of 69 though, which consists of mango juice and pineapple juice with passion fruit, lime and a shot of grenadine. It definitely tasted of Summer! The canapes came out in trays from the staff, but I found it can be hard to get to these as many came back for seconds and thirds. I definitely missed out on some of these. Additionally, the staff serving were unaware of what was exactly in the thing they were serving. I took a chicken from the platter and asked, what exactly is this. She said, chicken. I then said, what additional ingredients? What spices? She said she didn’t know. Hmmm…

I quite like the spicy thing in the shot glass, whatever it was. The others were nice too, but nothing notable. I appreciated that the bhaji wasn’t too oily.

The buffet

Zouk various curries and battered veggies

I ended up queueing a stupidly long time for my food, and as it turns out I was towards the end of the queue; as soon as I grabbed my food, I turned around to see a clear path back to my table. The food was lovely, I especially liked the lamb off the bone. I wish I knew what any of these were so I could order them again. I was quite disappointed to see that others had salad options, which I suppose I missed due to either going to a different queue (there were 2) or there were none left by the time I grabbed food. Definitely, could have done with salad.

OVERALL RATING AND COMMENTS

4/10 -2 due to my own anxiety and the fact I didn’t know anyone. -2 for too many people at the event, I felt they may have oversubscribed as people struggled to find space to stand, and that’s before they cleared the entertainment area for the dancers! -2 for the queues for food and rough distribution of canapes. I don’t think the people furthest from the kitchen got many of them as quick hands would snap them up beforehand. If you were sat on the terrace, you would not know food was being served when the buffet opened.

The Yelpers I met were all very nice and I look forward to the next event 🙂

WOULD VISIT AGAIN?

Yes, as I’ve visited Zouk before and they do nice food. I do feel like this event wasn’t organised in the best way, but they did have a lot going on and it was a true celebration of their achievements.

INFORMATION

Website: http://zoukteabar.co.uk/
Address: Unit 5, The Quadrangle, Chester St, Manchester, Lancashire M1 5QS