Food can be a great way to someone’s heart. Food can be linked to contentment and comfort, and eating with someone special can be a pleasurable and intimate experience. Food date ideas can make for a memorable experience at any stage of your dating life – whether you’ve just met or are celebrating something special. If you want to try something different for brunch or dinner together, there are plenty of ways to add some flavour and imagination to your next date.
1 – Bakery crawl
For a simple food date idea that can be as long or as short as you want, why not try a bakery crawl? Maybe you live somewhere where new bakeries are popping up with lots of tempting treats, or you could make a trip to somewhere with a lively food scene.
Make a plan to tour the most interesting – do they have a speciality they’re famous for? Are they renowned for their croissant recipe? Do they offer a daily special that gets people talking? Do your research and have lots to talk about when you meet.
You don’t need to worry (too much!) about how much you might consume. Pick some treats to share. Not only is it more intimate and engaged – you can fit more food in!
A bakery crawl combines a walking date with treats and lots to talk about in between. Perhaps you could rate the places you visit out of ten and see which one comes out on top.
2 – Dessert only
Sometimes the idea of a three-course meal feels too much for where you are on your dating journey. That doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate good food. Consider popping into a restaurant you like the look of, just for a single course – dessert. A restaurant that isn’t busy may well say yes to a cheeky request for just a pudding and a drink.
Keep an eye out too for venues that specialise in sweet treats. Ice cream parlours, crepe stations, and dessert cafes. Many stay open late and make a great alternative to pubs and bars.
3 – Sharing / grazing boards
A picnic date is a pleasant and relaxing way to spend time getting to know someone. Without the pressure of a table booking, a crowded venue or needing to get home at night, it’s a daytime food date idea that allows for quality time and a perfectly tailored menu.
Everyone loves classic picnic items – and debating over what’s a must have – but to take your picnic to another level, why not create a charcuterie board, a sharing platter or a grazing board?
This can be as simple or as fancy as you wish – bringing together an array of foods that complement each other and offer lots of choice. A classic option is to include cheeses, meats, fruit, crudites, breads and crackers, olives and dips but you can let your imagination loose! A sweet grazing board, or one focused on your favourite foods.
On one of Sharon and Trevor’s early dates, she produced an impressive and delicious charcuterie board for a hillside picnic. If only she’d known the only item Trevor liked was the breadsticks!
4 – Try local or seasonal specialisms
For fresh food, what’s in season changes throughout the year. Perhaps you live somewhere with a local specialty you want to introduce to a date, or you could make a day of travelling to a place with something you’d like to try: oysters or local fish, for example.
Another option is fruit picking. Find a farm that opens its orchards or fruit fields at particular times in the season. ‘Pick your own’ is a favourite activity for good reasons – as well as the tasty produce you harvest and get to keep, it can be rather romantic to spend time outdoors together.
You could also check if there’s a local winery or vineyard offering tastings. Christian Connection has heard from lots of couples who’ve got engaged and had their weddings at these places too!
5 – Learn a new skill together
Maybe you want to impress your date, but don’t feel your cooking skills are up to scratch. Perhaps they have a favourite food you’d like to try and make for them one day. Maybe there’s a way you could do that together – cookery classes are a fab way to connect.
Decide what you want to try or look to see what’s on offer nearby. You could learn cake decorating, pizza making, BBQ skills, sushi making, coffee expertise, chocolate tasting, or maybe something more specialised.
If you want an especially romantic outing, look for a couple’s cookery classes, where you learn to cook a delicious meal and eat it together afterwards.
6 – Focus on the venue or experience
Some restaurants and food venues know that what they serve is only part of what draws people in. To offer something memorable, they’ve upped their game to make it a whole experience. It could be a themed afternoon tea – I’ve been to one based on a favourite film, and a tennis-themed afternoon tea. Both were equally delightful but completely different.
There are also food experiences that offer more sensory experiences. Perhaps there’s a multiple-course tasting menu to try, in an interesting environment.
If you’re really brave, in some cities around the world, you can try eating in the dark, where you have no idea what you are eating, and your other senses take over. It’s all about the experience and using your taste buds. That would be a talking point on your date – even if you can’t see them!
There are plenty of ways to include some fun and alternative food dating ideas to your dating life, whether you’re on a first date or a 100th date.