Ten years around the table at CRAFT

Meet at CRAFT?

One message like that can settle the whole question of where to go. By then, three links have appeared in the group chat, someone has said they don't mind, and someone else is already hungry. Once a familiar name comes up, you can finally get to the important question. What time?

This year, CRAFT celebrates its tenth birthday.

The team reckons that, on a typical day, more than half the guests are regulars. Quite a few have been coming since the beginning. In ten years, you might have changed neighbourhoods, jobs and Friday-night company, yet still have the same address in mind for the friends you've never quite finished catching up with. Perhaps someone brought you here after work the first time. Now you're the one telling somebody else why they should arrive hungry. Plenty of dinners have passed since then, and someone has always said you should do this more often. At least you've settled on the place.

And lunch can be at four in the afternoon. That's the example the CRAFT team gives when explaining what a bistro means to them. You arrange lunch with a friend, one of you gets stuck in a meeting, and suddenly it's the middle of the afternoon. You can still sit down for something to eat. If you've both finished work, there's time for a glass of wine too. The menu is short, filled with dishes the team would order themselves. Half the dishes

change according to which ingredients are at their best that season,

while some recipes have stayed on the menu for years. One person at the table knows their order before they arrive. Someone else wants to see what's new. And someone will always ask for a taste of what's on your plate.

The wine list is long. If you're wondering where to start, ask what they'd recommend with your food, or tell them what you usually drink. At CRAFT, the person recommending a wine should also be able to explain why they've chosen it. They want you to enjoy trying something new and asking questions. Over dinner, you might discover a grape variety you'll start looking for elsewhere. Next time you get together, you'll have a suggestion for the table.

Asked what they want you to feel when you walk through the door, the CRAFT team answers with one word: “Cosiness.”

For the interior, they trusted their own taste and the advice of an architect friend. Over the years, they've added things as and when they were needed. They have more to say about the music. It's “another language” they use to talk to their guests. When you invite people over, you think about what to put on while you're setting the table too.

The people at CRAFT talk about hospitality as a calling. They like having the chance to try their own ideas and meet so many different people through their work. Ask what's hardest about the business and you get another one-word answer: “Survival.” Some guests return for the food, they say, others for the wine list, others for the way they're looked after. For the team, the best moment is watching guests leave with a smile and knowing they'll be welcoming them back.

Happy birthday, CRAFT. See you at the usual place.

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