Many of us turning 60 might turn our thoughts to retirement. Not so Daphne’s. The Chelsea restaurant celebrated the big six-oh this week by carousing with all the energy of a launch party. Almost 300 guests knocked back flute after flute of Champagne and coupes of gimlets, decidedly heavy on the gin. Conversation strained to be heard over a five-piece band belting out Italian classics cheesier than the canapés of porcini and taleggio tartlets.
As pictured at the top of this page, Jermain Defoe and girlfriend Alisha LeMay were there, as too Donna Air and Elen Rivas, Frank Lampard’s ex. But if some of the partygoers were more Chelsea F.C. than SW3, Henrietta Gold, at least, was characteristic of the Daphne’s regulars out in force. The 74-year-old Chelsea local and former ballet dancer, elegant in a black sequin jacket, has been dining at Daphne’s since her parents brought her when it opened. What has kept her returning for over half a century?
