Alternative Valentine’s Day 2015: Left-field options to woo your loved one on February 14th
Stand out from the crowd with these left-field options to woo your loved one come February 14th – or just find someone new altogether.
ALL LOVED UP AFTERNOON TEA
Throughout Feb: Skylounge
Use the view at this rooftop bar to seduce your Valentine over a selection of aphrodisiac sandwiches. Designed to get the heart racing, ingredients include caviar served on a bed of smoked salmon and cheese, and truffle mayo on Parma ham bruschetta. Chocolate and raspberry cupcakes and a fiery 50 Shades of Grey-themed cocktail round off the afternoon.
£30pp, doubletree3@hilton.com
MATCHMAKING MIXOLOGY
14 Feb: The Alchemist
Shake, smoke and steam your way through a Valentine’s date by taking your partner to a mixology lesson with the bartenders at The Alchemist. The 90-minute masterclass includes a Kir Royale to break the ice on arrival and demonstrations on how to make three of the bar’s most popular tipples, Smokey Old Fashioned, French Martini and Passion Fruit Mojito. Afterwards, sit back and let love flourish while sipping on your fruity concoctions.
£30pp, email bevismarksbdm@thealchemist.uk.com
DOWN WITH DATING
11 Feb: The Phoenix, Cavendish Square; 12 Feb: Vauxhall Griffin, 8 Wyvil Rd
Find love on Valentine’s by registering at a singleton’s event under an assumed name and listing all the things you hate. Blind Hate is also on offer, with left-field, depressing questions very much encouraged. What more would you expect from the organisers of indie night Feeling Gloomy, which celebrates 80s miserableism from the likes of The Smiths and The Cure.
REGRETS
Barts Pathology Museum
Artist Robin Lee and Barts Pathology Museum have created a Valentine’s day even to file firmly under “alternative”. This is about “confronting your own mortality”, with multimedia exhibits focused around the concept of regret. Sitting along the macabre organs in bell jars will be real-life hearts branded with words like “waster” and “burden”. Probably more for the recently jilted than the young lovers.
TATE MODERN
6th Floor Restaurant
Combine a Valentine’s bite to eat with a trip to the Tate Modern. In between a heaped serving of surrealism you can stock up on shellfish soup, sea kale and scallop rissol. It has great views over the Thames and will make you look cultured.
RED ROOM VIP PACKAGE
14 Feb: Voltaire
Avoid a Valentine’s dinner surrounded by other couples by reserving one of nine underground vaults at this City champagne bar. Strewn with rose petals and candles, the room comes with a personal waiter, two cocktails each, a platter of sweet and spicy treats, a bottle of Pommery pop each and a wifi-docking station so you can soundtrack the evening with a personal playlist.
£99pp, voltairebar.com
CHOCOLATE-MAKING WORKSHOP
13, 14 and 15 Feb
You’ve heard of giving chocolates for Valentine’s Day, but what about making them? Chocolate events company MyChocolate is laying on the ultimate Valentines Day workshop for couples. Enjoy a glass of champagne on arrival before sampling luxurious chocolates from the finest coco beans. You’ll make fresh cream truffles from raw ingredients. The best bit? Each couple goes home with 30 or 40 to share. Tickets £140 per couple, mychocolate.co.uk
CRAZY GOLF PARTY
10 Feb: Swingers, Shoreditch
Not that kind of swingers party. On Tuesday 10 February, activity-based dating site doingsomething.co.uk is inviting adventurous singletons to play a round of crazy golf at Swingers, the pop-up crazy-golf club in Shoreditch. The 7,000 square foot warehouse will be teeming with 250 single people playing the ultimate ice-breaking activity.