Festive Feast
Friday 5 December 2025
83 Dalston Lane, London (map)
Guest blog writer: A wonderful guest
For our final event of the year, we gathered at our Dalston home for a festive feast. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the evening so special. One of our regular guests at Mike’s Table kindly offered to write a blog about her experience, which you can read below. She captures the night beautifully and offers a wonderful glimpse into what it’s like to come to Mike’s Table as a guest.
My night at Mike’s Table
I arrived on Friday and I think I was the 3rd guest. As always at Mike's Table, there is always someone or a couple of the team on front-of-house ready to welcome guests and show them to the seating area and offer them a drink to start giving them an idea of what is available.
The chefs are there hours before the guests arrive and the fragrant flavours of the meals being cooked are an inviting scent.
I will not detail everything at Mike's Table events, please come along to experience for yourself if possible. What I will tell you is that the behind the scenes preparation, organisation and planning deserves to be recognised as well as what happens on the day of the event with Louise, Founder of Mike's Table, and her fantastic team which includes the valuable volunteers who are welcoming guests and serving welcome drinks and snacks and ensuring guests are comfortable, while the chefs are equally working on mouth watering meals.
The concept and reason behind Mike's Table is important and there is a specific way how Mike's Table is able to operate, so I would encourage you to read about this. On Friday's event, a lot of new guests and some familiar faces were there which is what usually happens and there are guests who come from other charities, or guests who are there without connection to an organisation but come with someone and other guests, like me, who come on their own. Mike's Table events are innovative, as was Friday’s Festive Feast, while keeping to the schedule. It's a safe place and I mean the atmosphere, if anybody ever had concerns or worries this would be dealt with seriously and appropriately, however I have always felt safe at Mike's Table events. A diverse amount of guests are there from all races, variety of ages, and there are always guests to chat with.
Conversations between guests are meaningful.
Louise and her team genuinely enjoy serving people at Mike's Table, and their dedication to Mike's Table events is admirable. The food comes from places that donate which usually would be wasted but the Mike's Table Team knows that saving quality food is essential and vital for many reasons. There is enthusiasm and laughter at Mike's Table not just from the guests but Mike's Table Team. Another element of fun is the raffle tickets and prizes. In a world and culture where small and big screens have become so ingrained for communication, Mike's Table continues in person events, thank you.
Thank you to all at Mike's Table individually and as a team for your amazing work and of course the delicious food you create.
With Gratitude
Guest from Festive Feast 2025.
Meggie’s final event at Mike’s Table
Many of you will know Meggie, who has been part of Mike’s Table as our Programme Manager since January 2024. After two years of working alongside Louise and volunteers to organise and host Mike’s Table events, Meggie will be leaving Mike’s Table in January 2026.
On Friday, it was her last event with us, and it was an incredibly special one. Meggie has shared a few words:
“Thank you so much for your kind words on Friday, ahead of my leaving Mike's Table. It was such a special final event, which I will always cherish. I'm excited for someone new to step into the role and for everything that’s ahead for Mike's Table next year. I also hope to come back from time to time to volunteer or as a guest, so I look forward to seeing you again soon!”
The Menu
Thank you to our friends at City Harvest, who donated a wonderful range of unique, high-quality ingredients for our chefs to craft a delicious meal. The food is always within its use-by date and would otherwise be thrown away. Here’s the menu from the night…
Welcome Drink:
Champagne or Smoky non-alcoholic Apertif
Starter:
Pasta, bean and vegetable soup
Main
Sriracha tofu with wild mushroom ragu
Pork and cranberry rissoles with gravy
All served with vichy carrots and roast potatoes
Dessert
Satsuma and vanilla cheesecake with kiwi and citrus mousse
The Team
Kitchen: Andi, Daniel, Evelyn, Philippa and Simon
Front of House: Eleanor, Louise, Meggie and T
Our Partners
As ever, we couldn’t do it without you:
Compassionate Neighbours Kalayaan New Art Studio Prisoners Abroad
Nova New Opportunities HostNation Hackney Herbal
Many thanks to our Food & Drink Donors:
City Harvest Uncharted Wines
Kind words from our guests
"There aren’t many restaurants where you walk in and end up hugging everyone."
“I just want to say a big thank you to all. It was a great evening. Hospitality, atmosphere, food, entertainment - absolutely amazing.”
