Eating: The Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey

Where we ate:
The restaurant at The Peninsula Hotel
Les Dicqs, Vale, Guernsey, GY6 8JP.

When we ate:
1pm
Saturday 2 August, 2008

What we ate:
Homemade vegetable soup or melon with berries
Locally caught plaice, chicken breast in Guernsey mushroom sauce or Mediterranean vegetable lasagne and salad, all served with sauteed Jersey royals and fresh vegetables.
Profiteroles with chocolate sauce or banana and chocolate mousse

What we drank:
French Chardonnay

What we paid:
We didn't! It was a treat and a lovely one at that, despite the sad occasion. The three courses of food plus coffee cost £12.95 per person.

Where to feed twenty-one people aged between 1 and 79 at lunchtime to mark a special occasion?

Sadly my boyfriend's grandfather passed away one year ago. His widow organised a memorial occasion for the extended family to get together and mark the date, but we wanted to remember the happy times so some fabulous food was also required.

Any gathering of more than two persons and anything involving family is always chaotic in terms of arrangements and this was no exception. Chinese whispers concerning the start time meant that some of us waited in the bar for an hour before the others arrived. However, on pain of a public ticking off from a grieving grandmother, twenty-one family members were present and correct by 1pm which was the lunch time that had been Chinese-whispered to the hotel (if not the guests!)

What we didn't realise was that the hotel had been more than kind and opened the restaurant especially and exclusively for our lunch. The chef and the waiting staff were there just for us and if they resented it they did not show it at all. The food was delicious and the service was warm and efficient. The bar staff who kept us watered while we waited for the fashionably late were also very friendly. A special table, with floral decorations, had been set up so that all twenty one of us were all able to sit together and a high chair was also provided for the youngest member of our party. As we had the restaurant to ourselves we could have quiet for a memorial speech and a few tears, then make noise while we chatted and wander around sociably after we'd eaten. The two little children were delighted to be spoiled with a free run of the entire restaurant to explore.

We left feeling pleasantly full and contented, despite the sad occasion, at 3.45pm as the staff had been in no hurry to evict us from the comfortable, smart surroundings of the hotel restaurant from which we had a view of the patio area and enticing outdoor swimming pool.

I felt that we were well treated and that the tasty, hot food was extremely good value. The only improvement would have been a little more fresh air to cool us down on such a hot day.

Will we go back?
Yes, in happier times, we hope. We'll also ask to use the pool!