The first-date restaurant

Taking your date to a restaurant that only caters for first dates has many obvious advantages – you won’t end up at a table next to a family with a screaming toddler or nosey five year old, for example. Nor will you have to suffer through badly-sung choruses of “happy birthday dear Gran”. But this restaurant goes far beyond a romantic mood with soft music and secluded tables.

To help your date go better:

Every table has been especially lit so that there is no unflattering harsh light that will show up those little wrinkles or bad skin.

Each table setting has a strategically placed mirror that can be used to check for spinach between the teeth.

Strong breath mints can be found just about everywhere – on your table, by the bar, in the bathroom – so that you’re always ready for a kiss.

You can request the ‘special’ menu with unobtrusive cue cards that will suggest interesting questions to ask.

And, if your date really isn’t going well:

Both the men and women’s bathrooms have an exit that leads to the street (and preferably a taxi stand). If you desperately need to escape the date, it’s as easy as saying “I’m off to powder my nose”.

If you don’t think this is a very classy move, you can simply give a secret signal to your waiter who will immediately appear at your table and proclaim that there’s an ‘emergency call’ for you at the bar, giving you the perfect excuse to cut the date short.

Then there’s the complementary glass of red wine that can be thrown at the offending date if he says something really inappropriate.