I am sure, I am not alone in thinking a private dining experience is a bit of a dream evening, firstly, invite your friends/family and wait to be served the most delicious meal in the comfort of your own home. Secondly, relax and enjoy the company without having to get up every few minutes to check the next course, no one has to drive and you don't even have to do the washing up!
Introducing Christian Ørner founder of Salt Co.
Well, lucky us this is exactly what we did on Friday night, I had been in contact with Christian at Salt Cø for a few weeks in order to organise a date and in the days ahead we made contact to discuss menu choices. I wanted the evening to be one that challenged us to eat things that we would normally pass by on a menu, so left Christian to come up with a first draft. I then suggested a couple of changes that included foods we did not like and then he adapted the menu accordingly. I should mention that the food we were served was dairy free, so that added to the challenge for Christian.
Now, a seven course menu is not like a regular dining experience, don't expect huge amounts of food to fill your plate, the portions are small but perfectly formed and believe me, you will not be hungry at the end of the evening. I had invited three friends so in total there was five of us sitting around the table, at this point I must also mention that during that day I had attended an event at the Neptune store on table styling.
Perfect timing, thanks to Steven for his great styling tips, I tried asking him to come home and style my table for the evening but unfortunately he was busy, so I came straight home and played with some foliage from my garden and my newly purchased candle took pride of place as a table centre.
The water glasses also came from Neptune, I love them! Styling tips are on their website www.neptune.com but it really is worth a visit to the store, its so beautiful - I would happily live there!
After a short introduction Christian returned to the kitchen and served this stunning first course cucumber consommé, basil, olive oil. Honestly, I wasn't sure how this consommé was going to have any flavour but it was absolutely delicious.
Next up Egg Yolk ravioli, a real mix of textures with the crunchy cubes of Celeriac, soft pasta and perfectly runny egg yolk, for me it was a joy but one of my guests likes her eggs cooked a little longer, Christian happily obliged, another plus to having a private chef!
This dish was by far my favourite of all of the seven courses and I could of happily eaten more, the mix of the apple and bacon worked so well I'm going to try it myself next time I cook scallops.
The next course was a palate cleanser, being called a Lemon Explosion we where a little nervous to put it in our mouths, some funny videos exist but I am not mean enough to put them on here, safe to say it really did cleanse the palate.
The main event was this pan roasted guinea fowl with butternut squash tart, a light sauce would of finished it off to perfection.
Blackberry Crumble Soufflé roasted pear and apple sorbet as our dessert with the cheeky addition of popping candy, a lovely combination of flavours and quickly devoured by everyone.
Last but not least were the jaffa cake macarons, Christian made a plateful but by this time we were all pretty full so luckily for Simon (my sweet toothed husband) there were some leftovers for the next day.
It really is a fun way to spend an evening and one I would recommend to anyone looking for a food experience in the comfort of your own home.
This is what my guests had to say.
A really enjoyable evening, relaxed and educational, a well thought out and balanced taster menu, full of surprises. Each course was articulated and beautifully presented. It would be something I would like to repeat and I am sure next time would be equally enjoyable and different.
I was lucky enough to enjoy a delightful evening with family and friends, being served by Christian a professional chef who obviously greatly enjoys his craft and makes every effort to talk you through his 7 course tasting menu. Everything he serves is made by him even down to his delicious home made butter!! This makes for a very special evening, somehow more relaxed than eating at a restaurant. Can't wait to do it again.
For anyone reading this review that would like to book for themselves, Christian has kindly offered a discount of £15 pounds per head - please quote 15milefoodie when booking.