Don Giovanni Manchester hosts The Blogger Dining Club

I had the pleasure this month of being invited to the Blogger Dining Club Christmas meal at Don Giovanni’s, before I go any further can I just say wow!!!

Georgie Glass who has set up and launched the Blogger Dining Club did the most amazing job of pulling everything together into a wonderful event and evening!

Don Giovanni’s (if you’ve not been) is just across the road from Central Library in Manchester, super handy, as its right by St Peter’s Square tram stop, the Midland Hotel and of course the Palace Theatre. It is a beautiful Italian restaurant - definitely one of the top Italians in Manchester (which is saying something as there is so much competition in the city now!)

We arrived on what was a very rainy snowy day to a glass of Prosecco! Perfect after battling the cold weather and busy crowds, and feeling instantly relaxed with my prosecco in hand I chatted to some of the other amazing bloggers, most of whom I hadn’t met before!

I have never really planned events, but can only imagine how difficult it is to get a load of people together who maybe haven’t met and get them all chatting!! Georgie is clearly an expert at this!!! I met some really inspiring and interesting bloggers, and came away from the evening with new friends, a full belly and feeling ready to throw myself even more into my blogging!

Once everyone had arrived and the prosecco and conversations were freely flowing we were shown to the most beautifully decorated table! I was blown away by the gorgeous festive decorations, the stunning Christmas wreaths all down the table (by the flower lounge didsbury) and the beautiful gift box from Kiehl's!!! ( I have been trying everything! And cannot wait to go and get my treatment in the new year!)

With us all sat in our seats and everyone taking tons of snaps of all the beautiful and totally instagramable settings, you couldn’t help but be excited for the food! So far everything else has been incredible, so the food must be too!!! For anyone reading this who doesn’t know me, I am a huge foodie and probably spend about 90% of the time talking about food!!

Don Giovanni’s did not disappoint! Now, I am a huge believer of eating healthy and mainly eating ‘real’ food, I don’t count calories, or track anything, I just eat real, freshly prepared food. This was ‘real’ food at its best! I find when food is not overcomplicated but relies on being fresh and well sourced, you can tell the quality!
For my starter, I had smoked salmon. This came on a bed of mixed leaves and was simply garnished with a few capers and a lemon slice, it was so delicious and so fresh!! The salmon melted in your mouth as you ate it!

I generally don’t eat smoked salmon as it can be really poor quality in a lot of places, making it tasteless or slightly ‘fishy’ tasting. You could tell from the taste and the texture that this had been properly smoked and was also incredibly fresh! (My mouth is actually watering while I am typing, as it got me thinking about it!)

After the starter we had a short break and spent more time looking through all our lovely gifts, we also got some gorgeous looking gins, which will definitely come in handy over Christmas!

Our mains arrived to a flurry of photographs as these were equally beautiful looking and super tasty dishes! As I am dairy free, I generally struggle when it comes to Italian food, I have to get the waiter over, find out what I can eat, they have to go and check with the chef etc etc. Not at all here, I didn’t even have to check with the waiters, (mine normally is made separately so is slightly different) but not here, both dishes I ordered were completely dairy free! This was such a small thing, but so lovely to be able to enjoy a meal and not have to check my food!

My main was freshly roasted chicken with root vegetables and the most gorgeous tasting sauce (gravy). Again everything tasted so fresh, good quality and was also really well cooked! Chicken can sometimes be a bit dry, but it was perfect! Absolutely delicious! Could not fault the meal at all, and the service was brilliant, the staff were so attentive and really looked after us. Which I think can sometimes be a real struggle when the restaurant is full and there is a large group! Not these guys!

For our dessert we had mince pie flavoured Gin and Tonics! There was no way I could have eaten a dessert, and to be honest I really struggled to finish my drink as I was sooooo full!!!! But it was yummy and even came with a festive bauble on!

All in all, it was a wonderful night of beautiful food, great company and a brilliant host.

Thank you for Georgie Glass, The Blogger Dining Club and Don Giovanni’s for a brilliant evening and I will definitely be going back!