we are currently in the process of some exciting refurbishments!
our builders have been working hard from 5am everyday for the last two weeks to help us raise the profile of camber wines, our wine shop upstairs.
huge changes were made on the first day by knocking down walls and opening up the stair way and entrance to make our hidden treasure more accessible.
we hope for the work to be completed next week – come and have a look!
see below for the progress so far….
on tuesday 10th june, we held a wine tasting supper in the bistro with forty of our wine loving guests. we had the delight of welcoming dimitri from the jackson family estate, california. paired with some fabulous food-prepared by our amazing kitchen-we tasted five californian and australian wines.
another really good evening had by all. thank you dimitri!
less than two weeks until the next fishy friday people!
friday 5th june:
fish’n’chips & chocolate brownie sundae £10.
5pm-6.30pm only
book now to avoid disappointment.
(please note-we serve no other food during fishy)
congratulations to paula- the winner of the magnum of muscadet which we raffled this weekend.
really good result- £680, thank you so much again to all who took part & donated to this wonderful fundraising challenge we have set ourselves.
the rowans hospice really is a deserving charity and we are all really enjoying getting involved and evidently raising as much as we can- fingers crossed we can achieve our £10,000 target!
this raffle and our janes abseiling sponsorship money has actually thrown us over the half way mark and we have now raised a total of £5732 and it’s not even june yet! brilliant stuff. very proud of how far we have come- six months to go!
so last weekend we had the privilege of working in the games room at the portsmouth beer festival on behalf of our rowans hospice charity fundraising.
just want to say a massive thanks to the staff that gave up their days off to volunteer and also to ben and the team for having us. we worked alongside samuelsfund raising money over the two day event-splitting the total between us!
thanks to everyone who played with us & donated. hoopla definitely is an addictive game!
£583 and the chance to try different ales all day and night made a pretty good abar school trip 😉
a big thank you to all those who bought a ticket for our easter bank holiday weekend raffle.
we raised a wonderful £710 which we’ve added to our total-a nice boost towards our target of £10,000.
the prize was a jeroboam of rimauresq cru classé rosé, côtes de provence, france, won by lisa.
congratulations!
we also had fun with our ‘guess the chicks’ challenge. there were 120 chicks in the decanter, well done michael for the closest guess of 118.
today is jess’ last day with us 🙁
she joined us at the american bar in 2003 as an innocent young teenager, never intending to make a career out of it, flying off to Greece when she had saved enough money.
by 2007, she had had enough, and returned to Portsmouth and in turn, to us.
by 2008, she was a key member of the team as we revamped to become the abarbistro. she soon took on a keyholder role and has worked full time and part time ever since. three years ago, she produced the beautiful mya with our kitchens very own chef leo.
jess has never been shy of rolling up her sleeves and getting stuck in.
we thank you for all your dedication and commitment you have given is, and for being part of the team that has created this successful and locally iconic business.
we wish you all the luck in your new career and look forward to receiving myas application form in the years to come!
on wednesday 25th february, amber and steve popped up to london to attend the best uk trade show, casual dining. the show displayed 150 exhibitors and is a great opportunity to purchase or enquire about n
ew products or business ideas.
we enjoyed ourselves (and the freebies) and found the show brilliant for innovation and just a chance to spruce up our existing products, including our new luscombe drink flavours and stokes remoulade- a great addition to our abar club sandwich!
well done to all involved, see you next year..
a morning was well spent, as we welcomed the event organizers of the 2015 america’s cup world series, to be held this july, in portsmouth. a very exciting time for many businesses and a great chance to get involved in a prestigious global event. we hosted a breakfast, giving event organisers a chance to explain in more detail the schedule of the weekend including how local businesses can benefit and get involved. the Ben Ainslie Racing HQ is located just opposite us on the camber, and the team will move into their new headquarters in may.
it is an extremely exciting time, to be part of a city that will be hosting such a global spectacle. even if you are not familiar with the sailing world, southsea seafront and the water’s edge will come alive on the weekend of the 25th & 26th july.
our dave has spent the last 4 days in lomardia , northern italy experiencing the fruits of the franciacorta region. in a nutshell, as champagne is to france and cava is to spain, so franciacorta is to Italy. this incredible sparkling wine is a relatively new kid on the block but is made with a passion and expertise that he hasn’t seen anywhere else in the world. made in the bottle in a process that can take anything from 24 – 72 months with the familiar grapes of chardonnay, pinot noir (nero) and pinot blanc (bianco), the wine is often pure and very modern in style. many young wine makers are experimenting alongside some seasoned vintners to produce stunning results. it’s not cheap, and we don’t mention prosecco in the same sentence as this wine is seriously”top drawer”. watch out for our listing from azienda agricola ferghettina very soon. some perfect bubbles for the Italian americas cup crew to celebrate coming in as runners up to ben ainslies british crew in the forthcoming july races here in portsmouth!
Keep up to date with all that’s going on at abarbistro