Having been brought up by the hostess with the mostest (aka my Mum!) I love a good dinner party, however I have never managed to host a dinner party as effortlessly as her… until now!

Introducing La Belle Assiette

When Millie from La Belle Assiette got in contact to ask if I’d host a validation dinner for one of their chefs I said yes immediately. I was lucky enough to have chef Eric Allangba cooking for me and my surprise guests!

Eric posing before performing magic in my kitchen

The menu sounded amazing and was a true showcase of Eric’s talents – needless to say you could tell that Eric’s experience had come from his hometown of Lyon via Michelin-starred restaurants in London!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The au-pair (aka me), managed to set the table adequately and that’s all I had to do, the rest was covered by Eric and his assistant Ludo.

 The meal

This was the amuse bouche – or as I like to call it pre-starter!! Absolutely wowing everyone at the table, with sashimi, deep fried lotus root, the spectacular ‘green gel’ (cucumber?! I can’t remember!), melon, basil and caviar.

Look at the concentration – you can tell we are professional foodies!

So now seems like a good idea to tell you about my guests – we were a collection of bloggers and plus ones. Cynthia from Luxury Travel Beat blog and Helen from Eye in the Pie joined me with their other half’s. If this had been Come Dine with me then my friend Tiva was the entertainment! So six in total for the first dinner that Eric had cooked for La Belle Assiette.

Back to the food….. I had to google the Baccala Brandade to see what it was, turns out it the combination of the Spanish and French ways to prepare salt cod – very fusion especially when you compare this ‘traditional’ ingredient to the sashimi from the first course.

Beautiful!

Perfectly cooked deep fried poached eggs. These were sat on top of a pastry disc with the salt cod puree and tomato compote underneath.

And what flavours!! I love a good egg and the creamy salt cod worked so well with its richness and the gorgeous tomato sauce.

Next up was a plate full of palate cleansers!

Iced Bloody Mary to be precise – an amazing balance of the savoury flavours and the kick of the vodka!

Tiva loved this so much she got seconds lol!

The beef was served on fancy slates, and the presentation was stunning as you can see.

Now how the hell Eric managed to make the kale taste so good, I do not know, but it must be illegal as it was the best I’ve ever tasted that ‘healthy vegetable’! The beef was cooked to perfection and served with pan fried beets, carrots and fondant potatoes, with a cauliflower puree (the artichokes weren’t up to scratch on the day).

By this point we were feeling pretty full (at least I was), yet there was still dessert to come…

The verdict

This was a great dinner party experience for me – not only did we eat waay better food than I could ever cook (and I was quite surprised that they managed all this in my kitchen!) but I didn’t have to do anything, not even the washing up!

The menu is Eric’s ‘Chef’s Favourites’ and usually costs £55 a person. As this was Eric’s validation dinner I got it for free in exchange for hosting, but I think this is very good value for money, as the food was exceptional quality – more than just restaurant quality – in everything, from flavour to presentation.

Would I use La Belle Assiette again? Well this is not the first time I’ve had a dinner party catered by a chef in my house (I’ve had a birthday dinner catered before) and this was an amazing experience, so a definite yes! I loved being able to spend time with my guests, rather than having to slave in the kitchen.

A La Belle Assiette dinner would be perfect for a special occasion – think birthday’s, anniversaries or something a bit different and classy. They have chefs all over the UK and in several countries in Europe – check out their website here: La Belle Assiette

Disclaimer – I received my dinner party for free as it was to provide an experience of Eric’s cooking for the reviews on the La Belle Assiette website – all opinions are of course my own.

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