Happy 10th Birthday to The Restaurant Club (and a fantastic giveaway)!

Every foodie's favourite Facebook group is celebrating ten years with an incredible competition prize

By Louisa Walters March 22, 2022, 10:58 am Edit

Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing

Ten years ago this week, inspired by the constant stream of recommendations I was getting from a newly-formed book club on Facebook, I was inspired to set one up for my other great passion – restaurants! I added my friends, they added theirs and the rest, as they say, is (very tasty!) history,

At the time, there was a new wave of ‘out-of-town’ independent restaurants opening up. Tootoomoo in Crouch End was the first restaurant to benefit from The Restaurant Club Facebook group, as one recommendation led to another and by the time I went there owner Philip McGuiness practically laid out the red carpet for me. “Thank you SO much!” he said, “We are full every night with people who have discovered us on your group.”

From Bob’s Cafe to Balgan, Delisserie to Delicatessen, Hudsons to the Hummus Bar (some of those sadly now ovasholom), group members love to have their say, be it good (usually), bad (sometimes) or indifferent (rarely). Cacao Bean Restaurant & Cafe is the new group favourite. Tucked around the back of Borehamwood, it is a regular cafe during the day, turning into an intimate tapas restaurant on Tuesday – Thursday evenings and churning out a phenomenal Sunday Roast.

I am a huge supporter of independent restaurants and in 2016 I launched a discount scheme to enable people to save money when eating out in independents, which at the same time got customers through the door. In 2020 when Covid hit, these much-loved venues were in grave danger of collapse. I harnessed the power of the group to raise a staggering amount of money to keep local independent restaurants afloat by purchasing takeaway meals to send NHS hospital staff. In some cases this was the only chance they would have to eat on increasingly long shifts.

GIVEAWAY The Restaurant Club has much to celebrate, and to help us do so on our 10th birthday one of my favourite restaurants, Bob Bob Ricard (famous for its ‘press for champagne’ button), has given me a £300 voucher to GIVE AWAY to one lucky foodie! Click here to enter and that could be you! Competition closes 28 March 2022.