SALON DU CHAT

It’s a Conversation Installation

It’s Speed Debating

It’s Chat without the chit

There’s no small talk

What really happens is that you enter a pop-up cafe (at a festival/conference/party) and are greeted by a smiling (mandatory) host/hostess who hands you a beautiful menu (designed by Piquant Media). Instead of a list of food the menu presents you with a list of conversation topics. You are seated at a table with three others and you might know all or none of them, it doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that between you all you choose one starter, one main and one dessert. Your host/hostess will keep an ear on you to make sure you stick to your topic and then it usually takes about 15 minutes per course. We always serve a complimentary (aren’t we nice) cup of tea (once upon a time it was alcohol but then the recession sorted that out) and a treat (again this used to be a fancy cookie and now it’s a rice krispie bun…).

The menu is different each time we host a Salon du Chat. We take a lot of care coming up with our menu. Generally the starters are introductory topics (the kind of thing you’d comfortably discuss with a stranger at a bus stop), the mains are meatier fare dealing with the topical issues of the day, and the desserts are flirty, frivolous and fun.

The battery on my laptop is about to die and I don’t have a charger (there might almost be another post in the why of that) so I’m going to leave it there. I’ll post again about the history and glistening (said hopefully) future of Salon du Chat.

Till later

Ro