As executive chef at the Millennium Conference Centre in London's South Kensington, Ian Boxall is used to catering for very large groups of people. But he admits this year's Chef Conference dinner for more than 200 fellow chefs - including luminaries such as Heston Blumenthal and Andoni Adriz - gave him "serious butterflies" before the big night. "When you do something like this, you do worry because you want to get things absolutely right," he says, adding that, with just over four weeks to prepare a four-course menu for 250 covers, the work was "intense".
For Boxall, an experienced banqueting chef who once served a dinner for 1,700 guests when he was head chef at the Albert Hall, the main priority was to keep things simple. "If you're feeding people who know about food, it's important not to overcomplicate things with lots of flavours," he says. "It can come back to haunt you otherwise."
Despite initial setbacks with the starter - tracking down Muscat grapes turned out to be much harder than expected - there were no real hitches on the night, and Boxall was happy with the results. "It all went very smoothly and everything went out on time," he says. "I did think I should have served the foie gras pan-fried, rather than as a mousse. But overall, I was very pleased with the food."
As well as Boxall's 35-strong brigade, two winners of the Nestl Toque d'Or competition, Tom Egerton and Esher Williams from Westminster Kingsway College, were also on hand to offer support in the kitchen. Boxall is full of praise for their efforts. "They were brilliant," he says. "Both of them were very hands-on, with Esher helping out with the starters and Richard working on the sushi canaps."
For many guests, a talking point of the dinner was Boxall's decision to serve 10 desserts. This meant diners on each table all had a different end to their meal and it gave the puds' creator, pastry chef Graeme Bartholomew, a chance to strut his stuff. Logistically, this could have been disastrous, but everything went to plan.
"You have to get the organisation absolutely spot-on, which we did - and it worked out brilliantly," says Boxall. "Even Heston Blumenthal called it adventurous!"
Supporters
Caterer and Hotelkeeper would like to thank the following companies for so generously supporting the 2005 Chef Conference:
- Nestle Foodservices
- Fresh RM
- The Millennium Conference Centre
- Enodis
- Villeroy and Boch
- Coca-Cola Enterprises
- Abbey Wel
- Nescafé Coffee Company
- InBev U
- Forum Biosciences
Menu
- Quail and foie gras salad with Muscat grapes and walnut oil dressing
- Pan-fried fillet of wild sea bass, confit of fennel and red peppers, lobster tortellini, bouillabaisse
- Roast rack of English lamb and confit of shank with truffled mash, caramelised shallots, rosemary and thyme jus
Desserts
- Saffron Pavlova with blackberries and vanilla cream
- Strawberry campino with lavender caramel sauce
- Iced raspberry cassata on lemon jam
- Lemon thyme brle with sage biscuit
- Caramel dessert plate
- Blackcurrant and lime charlotte
- Pan-fried chilli and honey pineapple with pineapple sorbet
- Coffee and chocolate marquis with pistachio ice-cream
- Rhubarb orange cardamom tart and rhubarb syrup
- Caramel and macadamia nut box served with caramel mousse