Bookings by Occasion · Duo companionship
In concert: two companions already in harmony, and the best seat at the table for you
Two companions, one guest, one evening: that is the whole definition of a duo, and the Society approaches it the way a good hostess approaches a seating plan. Two people who merely look well side by side make a thin evening. Two who share an interest, a sense of humour or a favourite bar make a lively one, and the guest between them has the best seat in the room.
Cressida proposes pairs, and she proposes them only after each companion has said the other would be good company. Nobody is asked to spend an evening with a stranger.
At 20:00
The occasion
Arranged around the evening you describe, never around a menu of extras.
Who suits Duo evenings
6 companions Cressida would propose first for an evening like this. Everyone else on the roster may be asked as well.
Three duets Cressida suggests
Luna and Bianka both take wine seriously. Luna tastes blind and writes candid notes; Bianka tastes with a pencil and a cook's palate; between them the wine list becomes the evening's first entertainment. Tiffany and Stacy both carry film cameras, never raise them at a table, and spend dinner noticing the same odd details of the room. Molly and Tina both collect bartenders who like to experiment, and both prefer a late room with good music to an early night.
Five of the six are listed among the companions in their early twenties. These pairings are starting points. Guests who already have two names in mind should simply give them, and Cressida asks each companion before confirming.
How the evening unfolds
The first ten minutes decide a duo. The two companions arrive together, greet you as though the three of you had long planned to meet, and spend the first drink drawing you into whatever they were already laughing about in the car. After that the evening finds its own shape: a dinner in which the conversation is passed round the table like a shared dish, a second venue if the mood asks for one, and a nightcap during which they take turns telling you what you missed.
Evenings made for three
A duo is at its best when there is something to celebrate and a room large enough to celebrate in. A deal closed that afternoon, with a long table at Novikov and the noise of Berkeley Street outside. A birthday at Hakkasan, where the low booths suit a party of three. A small gathering in a suite in Mayfair, with a bottle chosen by Luna and a conversation that never stalls.
The After Dark Notes describe the suite gathering for hosts planning six guests at midnight, and explain where the best table sits when the party moves on to a restaurant.
A table of three in public
A table of three draws more glances than a table of two, and the pair are used to it. They keep the volume at the level of the room, never turn the evening into a spectacle, and make it quietly plain to the staff that you are the host. Duos are not only for late nights either: a long Saturday lunch, or an afternoon along Cork Street with two opinions on every canvas instead of one, works on exactly the same terms.
Near the square
Most duos the Society arranges begin within a few minutes of Berkeley Square, because two companions are easier to bring together where both know the streets. The May Fair Hotel and The Chesterfield sit on the square's doorstep, and The Connaught is five minutes away on Carlos Place. For an evening at your hotel, ask for a room in which three chairs fit around one table; it matters more than the view.
Two lines of the tariff
Each companion is booked at the ordinary tariff, so a duo is simply two lines of it, written side by side in Cressida's reply before you agree. Nothing is added for the pairing, and you hand each of them her fee in person as the evening begins. Matching two calendars is slower than matching one, so an evening planned a day ahead has more pairs to choose from. The rates page prints every length.
Standards unchanged
Doubling the company does not alter what the company is for. Each companion gives her time and her conversation, nothing more, and any suggestion otherwise closes the evening for both. If you are bringing a partner of your own rather than asking for two companions, the right page is evenings for couples.
Duo evenings, asked
Usually, yes. Cressida suggests pairs who have met and enjoy each other's company, which is why the first half hour of a duo is never stiff.
Sometimes. It depends on which companions are free, and Cressida will offer the best pairing available rather than any two names.
Yes. Two companions at a larger table help it feel full and lively; tell Cressida how many will be dining and who the other guests are.
Certainly. Give Cressida the two names; she asks each companion whether the pairing suits her and replies with both figures together.
Each companion decides for herself and books her own time, so one may be free for the night while the other is not. Cressida will tell you plainly what is possible before anything changes.
Notes for the occasion
- 5 min readSix at midnight: the suite as an after-dinner salon, with a guest who hosts beside youWhen the restaurant stacks its chairs and nobody wants the night to end, the suite becomes the salon. Warning the hotel, ordering ahead, glassware, music and a companion who co-hosts.
- 5 min readGame at the grand tables: the British calendar from the Twelfth to winter venisonGrouse on the Twelfth, partridge in September, pheasant and woodcock by October, venison as the nights draw in. How to dine the British game calendar in W1, and with whom.
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Duo evenings, arranged
Tell Cressida what the occasion is, what to wear and when it begins. She proposes companions who suit it and settles the rest in one thread.