Try a spot of safari dating

Dating expert Hillie Marshall has seen the format work before. She set up Dinner Dates 20 years ago, in which guests meet in a restaurant for supper and swap places after the main course.

"This is a great new dating trend," she says. "By moving places, people always have a chance to talk to each other, as you can never predict who will have that hidden X factor." In London, where singles have tried every dating style out there, safari dating is the new take on a tried-and-tested method.

"In London particularly, lifestyles nowadays are lived at jet-warped speed and it is not always as easy to meet new people as you'd think," says Paul Ergatoudis, dating expert from singlesolution.com.

"Dating can also be quite hard work, and people are too quick to cross dating methods off their list with the comfort that they have "tried that". As more and more people remain single longer, dating in London is becoming more innovative."

The upsides of safari dating are numerous - the pressure and responsibility of cooking is shared between three houses and so is the cost.

Hosts will spend as little as £10 a head, which each guest brings along, making it cheaper than having a big dinner party or going out to eat.

Marshall agrees: "Everyone's watching their pennies at the moment so this is a brilliant way of meeting new people where you don't have to spend much."

And aside from the logistical issues, if you're new to a group of friends, it has become a fantastic way of getting to know them better without the daunting aspect of spending five hours at a relative stranger's house stuck next to the most boring man in the room.

"I moved house and although I knew my housemates well they had a close network of friends nearby that I had only met briefly at parties or in the pub," says Sarah Bryce, 26. "When Joe suggested doing this it was great.

"You get to sit next to new people for each course and you also see everyone on their home turf. That way you know whether you would actually like to date them or not."

While romance is blossoming, the men bond over the cooking and the women de-brief on the men (and the meal) as they walk between houses.

And its greatest upside? If the men turn out to be truly awful, there's the perfect escape in between courses.

MY SW3 SAFARI - by Victoria Stewart

Last Thursday night I was set the challenge of surviving a safari-dating night for 18 people in SW3.

Organised by a friend, my first port of call was a flat near Parsons Green rented by James, a branding consultant known as the Safari King for his reputation as a six-times safari host.

I duly turned up with my bottle of wine at the scheduled time, not knowing who I might be making awkward conversation with for the next hour.

One thing became immediately apparent — each guest was dressed to impress, whether it was shirts for boys or sky-high heels for girls.

First appearances seem to play a big hand in how the night will evolve.

Looks aside, before long I was happily tucking into a tomato and mozzarella salad talking to my neighbours Bert and Georg about life as a singleton in London.

Forty-five minutes later, the two other girls and I were asked to make our way to the second house.

The five minutes walk gave us a chance to gossip about potential dates — one of which I've since been on — before round two. Here was a similar experience. Three friendly guys, lots of food, plenty of flirting.

It wasn't until the third house, which was harder to find given the herculean quantities of wine that we'd enjoyed over our chicken curry, that the fun really started.

By this point people were well-oiled and no one paid attention to their dessert — all eyes were on the other guests.

Another hour passed by, a whirlwind of drinking games and shared work complaints, but this time the six of us were whisked off to a nearby club — 12 others doing exactly the same just a few streets away — and at 10.30pm all 18 people met up to compare notes and continue the party.

I talked to some of my fellow dinner guests to hear what they had to say of this and their previous safari experiences:

"It's like a Japanese sushi bar, only the sushi on the conveyor belt are female guests. What better endorsement could there be for a party format?"
Phil, 24, banker from Clapham

"The competition among the girls was so high — honestly, they were like animals, each talking to the fit guy for the whole course so that no one else could get a word in edgeways."
Helen, 25, journalist from Battersea

"Strictly, people with girlfriends or boyfriends are mercilessly outlawed. The boys get very competitive, each vying to be the funniest' house. Sadly non-drinkers and militant anti-smokers tend to have a miserable time."
Simon, 24, recruitment consultant from Angel

"This is just like three rounds of foreplay which, if you're a bloke hedging your bets, is pretty good because you know at least one of the nine might go all the way."
Georg, 24, banker from Fulham

"This is great to go along to but possibly a bit hectic to organise and a lot to clean up afterwards. That said, we left that to the boys!"
Mijanou, 24, law student, Kensington

"Success rates vary from 85 per cent getting laid to a recent dismal low of one per cent. No relationships longer than a few weeks have come out of this, with most only lasting a sprinkling of hours."
Bert, 24, comedy writer from Highgate

"I enjoyed the fact that it all starts out very polite and civilised and by the third course — in our case, chocolate mousse with strawberries in the third house — people are dancing around on chairs and getting on like a house on fire."
Camilla, 24, advertising assistant from Fulham

"Good fun but frustrating. If you meet someone you like in the first course you then have to wait three hours before you can see them again."
Emma, law student, Notting Hill