Chef's Blog

Be smug! Check festive functions off your list

2015-07-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

It may be summer, but with bookings already steadily coming through for the festive season, we’re dreaming of glitzy dinner parties, formidable food and hearty wines. Read on to get your Christmas groove on, and book your functions now to stay ahead of the pack; smug in the knowledge you’ve already checked one thing off your Christmas to-do list!

Our new wine menu has been carefully selected by our Wine & Spirit Education Trust trained experts, and the OGGS team weren’t at all shy to ensure the new selection will please your palate with a pre-launch sampling session!

Tucked away behind our stunning four-domed Edwardian façade our hidden culinary gem; Brasserie One, is now bookable for your festive weekday luncheons with family, friends and colleagues from 23rd November - 23rd December. Our delicious and varied 2-course Christmas set menu starts at £24.50 and includes VAT, Christmas crackers, poppers and Vodka Cranberry shots – excellent value for a memorable Christmas meal in an enviable location. Just a stone’s throw away from the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park – the latter would be ideal for a pre or post lunch stroll!

If you’re considering a venue for you or your organisation’s dinner parties, canapé drinks receptions or festive conferences and meetings; we also offer a range of excellent festive packages starting from £44.50pp available from 28th November to 22nd December 2015.

It’s amazing we’re considering Christmas in summer, but believe it or not I’m already thinking even further ahead by planning our 2016 Catering Menu! Our kitchen team represent more than seven countries around the world and this diversity makes way for a myriad of creative menu design opportunities. The ability to work with clients on their specific requirements to produce bespoke menus is also one of the many benefits of our stand-alone, autonomous conference and events venue. As always, we love to hear your thoughts, so if there’s a particular dish or family favourite you’d like to see included in next year’s menu, do let us know.

Here comes the sun

2015-05-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve got some surprising news for you: summer is on the way. Although it appears that Mother Nature is reluctant to accept the possibility of warmer days and long evenings, here in the kitchen we have been planning for the good weather for months.

We have noticed in the past week or so that people are changing to lighter menu choices in the same way that you would change in to your summer wardrobe. On our business lunch menu the bowls of freshly made salad are going down a storm. The ‘Roast Mediterranean vegetable salad with marinated mushrooms, Manchego, olive and basil’ has become a very popular carb free, vegetarian option and is one of a number of delicious and healthy salads available. Don’t think for a minute that we have forgotten you carnivores out there who may be more interested in the Far Eastern influenced ‘Hoi sin duck salad with rice noodles, cucumber, spring onion, marinated plums, white radish and coriander’. Gorgeous.

Featured on the summer suggested menu this year is a surprise hit from 2014. When we put ‘Chilli-roasted feta with watermelon and mizuno, balsamic pearl dressing’ on the lunch and dinner menu we thought of it as an interesting alternative that might be picked up as an unusual vegetarian option. However to our surprise and delight it featured as a first choice starter on many functions, particularly in the summer months.

How to make our refreshing 'Chilli-roasted feta with watermelon & mizuno’

This dish is so easy to make and considering the odd combinations it is at once full of flavour and refreshing at the same time. Cut a piece of feta cheese a little bigger than a credit card and about 1 ½ cms thick, and then a piece of water melon exactly the same size. On top of the cheese sprinkle some chilli flakes and chopped spring onion and them put it under a grill until it has coloured slightly and the cheese is soft.

When the cheese is ready place it on the cold melon and dress around the plate with a good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Garnish with a spicy lettuce (we use mizuno but Roquette and watercress work just as well) and you are good to go. When you consider the warm saltiness of the cheese, the heat of the chilli, the cool refreshing sweetness of the melon and the sweet sharpness of the balsamic you would think that it should never work; you would be wrong.

We have even adapted the dish into a cold canapé option. The cheese is served cold and we top it with some pearls of balsamic and basil cress. This dish again is so easy to make and visually appealing. Why not try it out at a little soiree in the summer?

Stay tuned for more summer recipes

Keep your eye out over the next few weeks for a summer recipe from one of my chefs, Charlene Basan. Charlene has been responsible for Brasserie One at One Great George Street for a couple of years, and anyone who has eaten there will know the quality of her work. Perhaps Charlene’s South African heritage will feature in the dish? Watch this space.

Until next time!

All the best,

David Wilkinson

Back in time for our Wedding Showcase

2015-04-14T09:07:00.001-07:00

One Great George Street's Great Gatsby-esk Wedding Showcase is only a couple of days away now, and here in the kitchen we are turning our attention to the 1930’s wedding canapés to be served in keeping with the theme.

For this event we have designed some bespoke canapés to capture the essence of the era, and our team is excited about creating something that is old but at the same time new to them. We researched what food might have been available back in those pre-war years, and I drew some inspiration from my time at The Savoy back in the mid 1980’s that was nothing if not traditional.

Food nostalgia certainly seems to be alive and well today. You only have to look at the popularity of the current BBC series 'Back in time for dinner'. In this program a family re-lives a past era's cuisine each episode, with the help of a newly refurbished kitchen and decade-relevant food!

We make sure we have dishes on our banqueting menus to reflect this demand for 'tried and trusted favourites' alongside our more modern and innovative offerings. Who doesn’t love smoked haddock soufflé, shank of lamb or chocolate bread and butter pudding? Our customers obviously do because they are still three of our most popular dishes!

On Thursday morning before the showcase I will be carving a couple of water melons for display in the evening fusing an element of modern-day fun with the traditional 1930's theme.

We have in the past produced some carved melons for couples on request, but this will be the first time that we will be displaying them at one of our showcases. They make a wonderful decorative addition to an evening buffet table display and can be personalized to your specifications. At a Persian wedding recently we wrote the bride and groom’s names in English on one melon and in Arabic on the other (see below).

On Thursday morning I'll tweet some pictures of my progress and if you have signed up to attend will see you at the wedding showcase itself on 16th April where I'll be available to answer any of your melon (or general food) queries!

One Great Venue: Many Great Eats!

2015-03-12T10:04:00.001-07:00

Great by name, One Great George Street also offers great value eats in Central London to suit almost every occasion, pocket and palate. Are you a Westminster-based worker? MICE organiser? Wedding Planner? For all things culinary; I believe our venue truly lives up to its name.

There's one essential aspect of our catering operation that I've barely blogged about. It's something of a Westminster secret. How easy have you found it to find a great value, quality lunch in Westminster which uses sustainable, fair trade and seasonal produce? Challenging at best. Enter our Brasserie One restaurant.

Ideal for a business lunch or simply a lunch-break treat to yourself, our in-house Brasserie One restaurant comes highly recommended. Offering a fortnightly-changing menu, it provides the flexibility and choice that we believe makes it the perfect lunchtime destination in this Central London area. From a quick soup to a leisurely three course meal with expertly-sourced wine including bio-dynamic options, and everything in between; this hidden lunchtime haven is ideal.

When writing the Brasserie One menus we incorporate an unfettered blend of traditional European and world cuisine that always have a degree of seasonality running through them. For example, popular palate pleasers include:

The 'Omelette Arnold Bennett' - a comforting smoked-haddock dish with a history almost as rich as One Great George Street's history!
Classic Caesar Salad
Maple & Miso-glazed Organic Salmon, Jasmine Rice & Yuzu Dressing
Stuffed Aubergines with Lamb & Pine Nuts, Pomegranate & Coriander

Be sure to follow this blog (by RSS feed or by entering your email in top right-hand corner) to receive my forthcoming recipe of the month - next up my favourite Easter treat!

I honestly believe that it is our status as an independent venue with in-house catering that allows us to provide our guests with the flexibility they require. Our Banqueting Menus are written with the same freedom as those of Brasserie One, and we are also on-hand to discuss more ‘off piste’ requirements.

To find out what all the fuss is about:

Book a table at Brasserie One by emailing or calling: +44 (0) 20 7665 2340.
Discover our Banqueting Catering Solutions
Register for our Wedding Showcase: experience our venue & Wedding Canapés

New fresh event menus for 2015

2014-12-22T02:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone…. as per usual to coincide with the New Year we have released our brand new catering menu ready for 2015.

We began the lengthy process of creating the new menus over the summer when we were a little quieter. It gives us time to take a look at what other venues and restaurants are serving, check out what is trending as well as review our suppliers. We also conduct some customer and staff research to find out what people want and like.

Following the successful introduction of bowl food to our menus in 2013, we have decided to extend the amount of options available and re-categorise them to make them easier to read and differentiate on the actual menu itself. There are now extensive fish, meat, vegetarian and sweet bowls available, including:
Tuna loin seared and marinated on a pomegranate and avocado salad with tempura flakes and a soy, fresh lime and ginger dressing from the fish selection,
Lamb tagine with Moroccan apricot couscous or chickpea tagine for vegetarians from the meat and my favourite on the sweet section is,
Citrus posset with shortbread crumble.

Another new addition after evaluating your helpful feedback is to offer a combination and packaging up our bowl food and canapé options together. In the past you, our clients have asked for our help and advice when it comes to selecting menu items for your events. We of course are always happy to do this but we thought we would anticipate your needs…give you a little “food for thought” if you like, before having that conversation with your event co-ordinator. We now offer bowl food and canapés collectively as a package price as well as recommending which selections will complement and go well together.

Back by popular demand are the suggested seasonal seated lunch and dinner menus. We realise we only produce one menu per year so we do take into consideration all the seasons in one go; therefore these suggestions are very handy for giving inspiration at a specific time of year.

Also following on from my last blog, not to forget the food labelling legislation now in force (as of 13th December 2014). All our menu items have full allergen documentation available; please simply ask me for more details on any specific dish.

Food Labelling legislation….a sledgehammer to crack a nut allergy?

2014-09-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

This December (13th) a new legislation comes into force concerning the labelling of all unpackaged foods. From 13th all food outlets must be able to say if any of their dishes contain one or more of the 14 allergens specified in the new legislation.

For those of you who are interested they are;

Gluten
Crustaceans
Molluscs
Fish
Eggs
Peanuts
Nuts
Milk
Soybeans
Celery
Mustard
Sesame
Sulphur dioxide and
Lupin

It’s quite a big change from what we are used to. At the moment chefs often say that they 'didn’t know' or that a product ‘may’ contain a certain allergen, but from December if a customer asks we are legally obliged to be able to provide accurate information.

The perplexing thing is that for such a huge piece of legislation the notification and forewarning within the industry has been extremely poor. I can’t remember how I first came to hear about it but there has been very little official guidance about what to do and how it will affect your business.

We are very fortunate as some of our suppliers have been very proactive and kept us informed about what they are doing, plus the company we use to do our health and hygiene audits are now running courses on the subject (STS Solutions). However when I speak to people within the industry the majority of them still haven’t even heard of the new regulations.

The new law will be of little consequence for big companies that have standardised menus and plenty of resources. However I’m not sure how manageable it will be in for standalone, two chef restaurants where creativity and spontaneity is their mantra. This could mean they have to fill in a new allergen sheet every time they tweak a recipe or add an ingredient….who on earth has the time to do this?

Looking long-term, I expect we will get used to it, much like we have we for all the other new legal codes we’ve experienced over the years. This is just as well because in 2016 they will be extending the food labelling regulation to include the nutritional value of every dish. You have been warned!

I would like to make it perfectly clear here that I totally agree and understand that individuals should be confident in the knowledge that when they eat anything, it won’t make them ill. On that note we will be publishing our 2015 menus within the next few months complete with allergen information so be sure to look out for this soon.

If you would like some more information on the allergen legislation;
Contact our health and hygiene audit company STS solutions; http://www.sts-solutions.com/
Visit the Food Standards agency web site at www.food.gov.uk/allergy

How to run a successful kitchen....In the Beginning

2014-06-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it myself but last week I celebrated 14 years here at One Great George Street, and it’s only when I look back to that distant June in 2000 that I realise just how far we have come as a company and a catering operation.

The modern day catering offering

When I first arrived things were very different. For a start there were less than half the amount of staff and the lion’s share of the functions were contracted out to an external catering company. Brasserie One was a carvery, the café bar was known as the Buttery and they shared one large room divided by chocolate brown screens. The main kitchen was rather old and the Palmer, Rennie and Tredgold rooms didn't even exist; in fact these used to be old offices. However, the one thing we did have was the drive and imagination to develop and improve the operation.

Within a year the external caterer had gone and the new restaurant and function rooms were fully operational. Most importantly we recognised that in order to continue to grow the business and to succeed we needed to recruit the right people for specific jobs. As a result a new and enhanced staffing structure was introduced. Rather than having a team that multi-tasked but did not excel in specific areas; we created and brought in clearly defined job roles that encouraged individuals to specialise and develop particular skills.

This forward thinking paid dividends and the business rapidly expanded. It has allowed us to further develop our menus and the proficiency of the front of house service, which in turn bought in more customers. By 2006 / 2007 we were so busy that my clapped out old kitchen could no longer cope with the level of business, so with typical proactivity, plans were drawn up for the refurbishment of the main kitchen that took place in August 2008.

Early days of the new state-of-the-art kitchen

It would be impossible in this small space to tell you about everything that has changed, but the one thing that has remained constant is that we never rest on our laurels and we are always looking for ways to better ourselves. Without a shadow of a doubt it’s the constant desire to innovate that has given me so much job satisfaction for so many years.

An example of this is work we are doing now and we do every year summer; we start to create the new menus for the following year. We love to look at this from a blank canvas, see what trends are about, what our competitors are doing and be able to get the creative juices flowing…so watch this space as the new menu for 2015 will be coming this way soon!

Baking with Bertinet

2014-02-11T03:16:00.000-08:00

I had the perfect start to 2014! After a fabulous festive break I was lucky enough to attend the Richard Bertinet cookery school on a five day bread making course, which was without doubt the most enjoyable training I have had for years.

Bread making is a skill that has passed me by throughout my career as very few establishments make their own. For a long time I have been very keen to attend the Bertinet course so that I can introduce a new skill to the kitchen.

I first heard about Richard from Stefano Borella, a pastry chef friend of mine who went on the course some time ago and raved about it (believe me if a pastry chefs thinks it’s good, it must be). Then a couple of years ago I bought Richard’s excellent book ‘Dough’ that comes with a demonstration DVD, I was so impressed that I made it a priority to go on the course.

The cookery school is situated in a wonderfully quirky old building nestled at the end of a Mews in the beautiful city of Bath. Much like the building we were a varied and interesting class of 12, from America, Russia, Australia, the Far East, Ireland, Scotland and of course a couple of English thrown in for good measure. Some of us had a catering connection yet others just had a love of baking this mix helped create a really great atmosphere.

Beautiful Freshly Made Bertinet Breads

The course is expertly constructed and ensures it is accessible, fun and rewarding for everyone, not just the people in the trade. We would begin each day would begin with a relaxed coffee and a home-made pastry at 09:30 followed by Richard outlining the day’s objectives accompanied by a demonstration. I particularly enjoyed day one’s introduction which was an explanation of the history and techniques of bread making, it set a really solid foundation on what we learnt the rest of the week.

Almost immediately it seemed it was our turn to get hands on, and under the spell of the Bertinet mantra of ‘Show the dough who’s Boss’ ringing in our ears, we go to it. Working in either pairs or in a group of four we soon found out that it was actually the Dough who was Boss! However, by the end of the week we may not have been the Boss but at least the dough was ‘Well supervised’. Don’t be fooled this was achieved following copious amounts of practice and lots of help and encouragement from Richard and his excellent assistant Dan!

The course covers so much more than just knocking up some basic bread. Not only do you learn how to make many types of bread, you also learn: technique, organisation, preparation, baking, ferments, timing, teamwork and much more.

We would end the day at 14:30 when Chef Richard would cook up some lunch for us and we would sit down to eat with a glass of wine and of course our freshly baked bread. What could possibly be better than that?

Lunch at Bertinet Baking School

This is an excellent, highly recommended course and I am already looking at ways to introduce home-made bread to the menus here at One Great George Street.

A Harvest of Halloween Horrors

2013-11-04T01:16:00.000-08:00

With Halloween once again upon us I've brought out my precious pumpkin carving equipment and got the creative juices flowing.....before I show you my final 2013 creation I wanted to take you down memory lane and remind you of my previous incarnations.....

Counting down:

2010 we had the sculls

2011 a Viking theme took place

2012 saw another another large and ugly head!

This year I decided to go with the Hellraiser Harvest of Halloween Horror (I must say he looks like a rather happy Hellraiser)!

Embassy events drive demand for cultural cuisine

2013-06-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

The OGGS Brazilian Navy ‘Pastel de Carne’
Photograph by Izabela Bartusik (Food and Beverage Supervisor at One Great George Street)

A little while back I wrote about the growing demand for culturally-themed menus. Following my posts, under the headings ‘World of Cuisines in my Westminster Kitchen’ and ‘Growing Appetite for Bespoke themed menus’ we are getting more requests for themed menus based on particular cultures. It is helped by the many diplomatic missions based in our locality, leading to calls from embassy PA’s and secretaries who are looking to host Westminster dining events for diplomats and other embassy employees.

Embassy bashes aren't the only occasions where we serve up culturally-themed menus. We also do it for:

• Networking events
• Private Dinners
• Medal Ceremonies
• National Day celebrations
• Independence Day anniversaries
• Summits
• General Assemblies

We've been to all kind of places on our culinary travels from our Westminster kitchen. They include:

• Brazil
• India
• Switzerland
• Denmark
• St Lucia
• Iran
• China

Brazil

Just last week we journeyed via Brazil on our way to the high profile annual ICE President’s dinner in the same week. We made Brazilian canapés and bowl food for 300 hungry sailors when we hosted the 148th anniversary of the Brazilian Navy day. I say the ‘sailor bit’ in jest as we had many high profile attendees including many naval attachés from various diplomatic missions and the Royal Navy received by Admiral Mendonça, the Brazilian Navy’s most senior representative in London and his wife.

The Brazilian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s presented military medals to seven people prior to the reception. The menu included meat pastries (Pastel de Carne) and Shrimp Bobo.

Our version of Shrimp Bobo - Photograph by Izabela Bartusik
(Food and Beverage Supervisor at One Great George Street)

Some input from our Portuguese Catering Manager, Joao came in handy. The lovely food was washed down with Caipirinhas and Guaraná; a soft drink made out of tropical red berries from the Amazon. It’s growing in popularity here in the UK and can be found in Waitrose.

Guaraná - Photograph by Izabela Bartusik
(Food and Beverage Supervisor at One Great George Street)

India

For Harshika and Jason’s wedding, we made Karahi chicken, Aubergine curry, Jeera rice, Dhal Makhani, Bhatura bread, tomato raita and Jeera Mogo served with tamarind chutney, green chilli and coriander chutney for 220 hungry wedding guests.

I hear culinary flights to Malaysia, back to Brazil and India may be on the cards soon for my team. Not a bad thing...maybe we all look a bit too relaxed in the recent photo below!

Chef and his wonderful team
Photograph by Paul Dawson on our main staircase leading to the Great Hall

My Chilli Con Carne and Bevil's Lunch Club

2013-05-16T01:04:00.001-07:00

Photograph by Izabela Bartusik (Food and Beverage Supervisor at One Great George Street)

Life is full of interesting people and it is just wonderful to get off the treadmill of life in London and take time to chat with them. Shelley Coleman from our catering team recently had the chance to sit down with a character from Railway Engineering. Here is the resulting guest blog post from her, which I trust you will enjoy reading.

Hello, I am Shelley. I found that George exudes enjoyment for life and the friendships that he has made. He is a retired railway engineering consultant, and I talked to him during his regular Thursday lunch club in our informal Café Bar at One Great George Street.

The birth and founders of the Thursday lunch club

The club was set up to form a meeting point for friends from many walks of life. It was set up in 1923 by Lord Reith who was the first Director General of the BBC, Kenneth Cantile (advisory engineer to the Chinese National Railway) and Bevil Rudd. Bevil was a colourful, interesting character and an Olympic athlete after whom the club was named. Alan Beckett was a recent eminent Civil Engineer member who designed the floating pontoon roadway which was crucial to the success of the Mulberry harbour that was used in the Normandy Landings.

George’s five loves of the Café Bar and One Great George Street

Accessibility: I struggle with arthritis and I wish I had a magic wand to get rid of it. The Westminster location is convenient and the venue has good accessible features.
The service: The catering staff are always very helpful and bring my meal to me without being asked.
Chilli con carne: My favourite dish is the home made Chilli con carne. I know it is 100% beef. The Chef is good and I am told he spends a lot of time sourcing quality ingredients.
Chatting to friends: It is a highlight of my week as I meet my friends here. We have the chance to discuss many things including engineering and how to cure the ills of the world. The latter is the bigger challenge.
Banquette seating: The seating is very comfortable and convenient making easier to have a group discussion. As you can tell from the photos, we try to squeeze as many Bevil’s club members around one table as we possibly can!

The lunch club in 2005 prior to the instillation of new banquette seating.

George Carpenter gets up a head of steam….

Photograph by Izabela Bartusik (Food and Beverage Supervisor at One Great George Street)

George has had a fascinating career in Railway Engineering and has a deep passion for the age of steam railways. One of the engineering challenges in his life time was working on a high powered coal-burning turbine-electric locomotive to haul heavy coal trains from the Powder Riven Basin in Wyoming where 200 million of tons of coal are mined each year, the largest source of coal in the U.S.A

The final word from George:

“Engineering is a fascinating career and I enjoy reminiscing about the age of steam and discussing modern developments. The power of steam still the principal means of electrical power generation in many countries including China. I will keep returning to One Great George Street for Thursday lunch hoping that Chili Con Carne is on the menu for as long as I can (I am now 89!).”

Bon Appétit George and to everyone else that enjoys the food at OGGSVenue
Shelley Coleman

My 2013 Salad Inspiration

2013-01-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

The stress of cooking for more than 8,000 journalists at the 2012 London Media Centre has faded into a happy memory and I've been wonderfully rejuvenated by the festive break. I'm now full of energy and enthusiasm for the year ahead, even for blogging!

Indian potato salad with paneer, cashew nuts and curried yoghurt dressing

January sees the new 2013 catering menu coming into operation. Your old favourites are still there but there are also lots of new dishes to tempt you. If you need guidance on the menu choices for your next event, Perry and his team of event managers will be happy to help.

This year we've added a new salad selection to business lunches, the inspiration came from an unlikely source.

Inspiration

The first spark of inspiration happened at a meeting with our representative Rachael on a regular visit. KFF Ltd are one of our OGGSVenue nominated food suppliers.

Rachael told me customers would be asking for 'Ottolenghi style' salads within months. I quickly scheduled a visit to their Notting Hill cafe and was suitably impressed with their fresh and innovative food.

Bespoke menu client

The second spark for our inspirational salads came from a client meeting. When I asked if the client had any requests or preferences for her bespoke menu, her first comment was: 'I would like Ottolenghi style salads. Have you heard of them?'

Thank you Rachael!

2013 Menu creation

Re-writing the menus is one of my biggest jobs of the year. Apart from making the food tempting, we consider sustainability, menu structure, provenance, availability, cost, practicality as well as food fashions and trends.

This year, you have seven new salad selections for the business lunch and finger food menu. If you have a personal favourite for your event, just let us know though.

Our prices have gone up ever so slightly (below inflation minimum) as we want to continue to offer value for money and excellent choice in these difficult times.

A final note on Ottolenghi. I visited their restaurant on Upper Street, Islington with the boss for dinner last week. It is super-trendy with a great buzz and was heaving!

All the dishes are "tasting" size rather than main course, and the combination of flavours is breathtaking. I can't recommend it enough but make sure you book early if you want to go in the evening.

I hope we have a chance to serve you in our Cafe bar, Brasserie One restaurant or at a function in the coming year.

I’m happy to share any of the newly-featured salad recipes, just send me an email request.

Have a happy and prosperous 2013!

My Halloween 2012 Villain

2012-10-31T10:04:00.001-07:00

Something strange is going on in the Cafe bar tonight....

Warm welcome to our Cafe bar

Having worked on my pumpkin creation, here is the finished scary piece of art. What do you think?

My Pumpkin Carving Creation 2012

Now must dash back into the kitchen. It has been a busy day and I have trick or treaters waiting for me at home too!

My 5 VIP...Very Impressive Pumpkin Promises.....

2012-10-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am....sat with my carving tools, 25lbs pumpkin and expectations to better my 2011 Hallowe'en carving.

The Pumpkin arrived from Entremettier, my Covent Garden supplier yesterday. As growing conditions have been less than ideal in 2012, the pumpkin is not quite as gargantuan (212lbs) as last year. He is nevertheless a good shape, size and condition for anatomical dissection and transformation into hopefully an epic character.

2012 Pumpkin pre-carving

Everyone would like to know what I will be carving, but I'll let you into a little secret.....I dont know yet myself. Sure I have an idea, but it's not until you start carving that it all comes together. It's what I love about pumpkin carving; the creativity and uncertainty. Here are 5 pumpkin promises until you visit my blog tomorrow to see the finished article. The 2012 masterpiece will hopefully be.....

1) definitely a boy. It'll be far too ugly to be a girl

2) a villainous figure of some sort, it is Hallowe'en after all

3) evil and bijou rather than enormous!

4) inspired by an American artists called Ray Villafane. Perhaps unexpected in a year celebrating all things British, but if you take a look at his website, you will understand why I have drawn inspiration from him

5) displayed in our on-site Cafe Bar from 11am on Hallowe'en. The Cafe Bar is open to the public and if you are visiting to admire the pumpkin tomorrow, you can pick up a free Lavazza by simply whispering 'Pumpkin' to any of the serving team on this one day only.

Pumpkin surgery can take anything from one hour to five hours. Best I get on with the most fun and creative responsibility on my job description in my temporary Harley Street type office! Until tomorrow...

Jamie Oliver, OGGSVenue and me last week

2012-08-23T02:21:00.001-07:00

Jamie Oliver hosted by Square Meal at OGGSVenue

Last Monday Jamie Oliver was whisked into our building via one of our secret VIP entrances metres from my kitchen by his entourage and accompanied by our own on-site security team, right at the start of our busiest week feeding thousands of journalists at the LMC, Jamie was interviewed by Ben McCormack from Square Meal in our Telford Theatre. Now that there is a temporary lull in my kitchen until the Paralympics start, I have had a few minutes to contemplate and reflect all things Jamie Oliver and his visit.

I have great admiration for what Jamie has achieved. You could say that he was lucky with his first break but there is nothing fortunate about everything he has done since and what he has made of himself. He has made cooking trendy and accessible to the masses while campaigning for good causes and creating a business empire! That’s not luck; that’s hard work and talent. His two campaigns that have impressed me the most have been his restaurant 15 and his amazing expose into the state of school dinners in this country.

Jamie graduated from Westminster Kingsway College, only a stone’s throw from us in Westminster. As it happens, their Principal Andy Wilson is the Patron of The Westminster Collection of which @OGGSVenue is a leading member. The next TWC meeting will be hosted by Westminster Kingsway College which presents a chance to learn about their apprenticeships and work placements. Following that there will be an opportunity to take a look around their kitchens and sample some food cooked by their students in their lovely Escoffier room. Unfortunately I will be on holiday at the time (I always miss all the good stuff) but my number 2 & 3, Jo and Charlene are definitely up for going and will filling me in on my return.
Jamie commented in his ‘audience’ that Jamie’s Italian has made middle market food good rather than average, and that is something that we aspire to in certain parts of our business. For many of our conferences and working lunches the main focus for our clients will obviously be the business in hand rather than what they will eat at lunchtime. We take great pride in making sure that we produce the best possible food we can within the time and budgetary constraints of each client so that they leave with a positive experience. Nothing pleases me more than excellent food feedback from a conference delegate.
Jamie commented that he is still amazed that so many restaurants are not independently owned and operated and stated that it significantly influences kitchen choices and decisions. Although I don’t own the business here (in my dreams!) we are in the unusual position of being a stand alone venue and we are able to make all our own decisions. We can put whatever we want on the menu and use whatever supplier we want and that kind of flexibility is priceless.
Jamie commented that he won’t eat genitals or cooked ants, however live ants taste OK apparently! Culture has so much influence over what we eat or find palatable. All over the world what is and isn’t acceptable is different but I don’t think I could bring myself to knowingly eat things like dog, whale or cat. I don’t think I’d be able to look my two cats, Fred & Wilma in the eye if I’d chowed out on Moggy fricassee.

By the way, not only did we have Jamie from the culinary celebrity world with us at OGGS last week, we had a realm of stars responsible in one way or another for transforming the world’s perception of British food. These included Heston Blumenthal, Marcus Wareing from the Berkeley, Mark Hix and a number of successful Indian Chefs sharing unique insights such as Atul Kochhar (owner, Benares), Alfred Prasad (executive chef, Tamarind), Vivek Singh (executive chef and CEO, The Cinnamon Club) and top food writer Ravinder Bhogal (author of Cook in Boots).

Here is a small selection of photos taken of their visits to OGGSVenue last week.

10 Tips to ‘Feed’ the ‘Appetite’ for Bespoke Menus

2012-07-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

Elderflower and crème fraîche tart with mixed berries
(Recent event chosen from our 2012 menu to complement the rest of their bespoke menu)

Increasingly our clients have become "savvy" with food. Along with dietary requirements and environmental concerns, we need to also contend with requests for locally sourced and organic produce and get it all to the OGGSVenue dining tables whilst demonstrating good value for money.

10 TOP TIPS

1.    Time. To be creative one needs to be able to find time to step away from the operation and allow lots of research time. When team members are not doing normal routine jobs and what they know, more concentration of energy and therefore time is required.

2.    Research. Many clients want to know how far ingredients have travelled. During the UK Presidency of the EU in the 2nd half of 2005, DEFRA held their weekend meeting of Agriculture and Environment Ministers with us of the then member states chaired by the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett. It was important for the Department to showcase the UK. We were tasked with providing menus to include a range of UK produce to ensure that ‘all 4 corners’ of the nation were represented and that the provenance of every item was known. This extended to wines and juices too. Not only was it important to know what was coming in but also what was being disposed of. In line with the Department’s sustainability objectives at that time, we had to provide figures on amounts of waste and how and where it was being disposed of. We subsequently sourced ‘Collar of Pork’ from Aubrey Allen, an award winning specialist butcher up in Warwickshire. As they were able to supply us with free range pork traceable from farm to plate, we accepted their invitation to visit their premises where they provided us with an amazing butchery demonstration.

3.    Listen to the client. In the tastings I attend I have found that the clients often know exactly what they want and will also have their own ideas about what is current and trendy. Rather than being too precious about it, I like to listen and learn. Working with their ideas is a nice addition to your more traditional knowledge streams.

4.    Learn from the experience. Take the opportunity to learn new things. It will undoubtedly be different from the norm and keep both yourself and the team interested.

5.    Adapt the service style to suit the menu. For buffets in our Great Hall we normally have a long table display with repeated rows of food and clients are escorted and encouraged to sample it by our team members. For a recent high profile event with a virtually complete bespoke menu, the client requested a different style of service where the visual display and ability to walk up, admire and graze from the selection was a priority.

6.    Involve the team and keep them interested. Most of the time my Chefs have to get on with their jobs, often pressurised by tight schedules and deadlines. In that context, it is difficult to explore their own creativity and put into practice any good ideas they may have that could be successful. I make a point, whenever possible to encourage them to propose their own dish ideas. This tends to work well for our Brasserie One lunchtime restaurant menu but especially at the time of our annual banqueting menu review. Few things are more satisfying and motivating for a Chef than seeing their creations featured in a menu. This sense of ownership of a dish leads to huge pride, motivation and quality.

7.    Menu expansion and annual menu creation. Where new dishes have worked, expand existing menus. Many items from bespoke menus have made their way onto our regular menu for the following year eg. Leg of Lamb Noisettes. This followed after we hosted a 3 day event for the Meat and Live Stock Commission at the time. They have since re-branded and are now known as AHDB (Agriculture and Horticultural Development Board). The styles of Ottolenghi’s wholesome looking salad range is also on my list of inspirational themes with 2013 menu planning high on my ‘to do’ list.

8.    Consider what equipment and crockery you need. Quite often new equipment or new crockery is required along with service staff training and front of house communication in terms of team briefings before and after the event.

9.    Recognise and reward team members that have gone the extra mile. Here at OGGSVenue we have a monthly reward system called OGGStar. Following a tough but successful tasting with a high profile client recently, my boss and I both discovered that neither of us would actually be there on the day of the event. My number 2 (Joanne Dingwall) did a fabulous job and ended up joint winner with Yvonne Williams (Dedicated Event Coordinator) of the May OGGStar award. This followed after our boss received a glowing client letter after the event.

10.    Feeding hungry people is more important than blogging! Now it is time for me to get back to the kitchen. I have an army of journalists to feed whilst we are currently the home of the London Media Centre for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A World of Cuisines in my Westminster Kitchen?

2012-05-14T02:20:00.002-07:00

Thanks to my wonderful eclectic team, a walk through my kitchen is a bit like ‘Going around the World in 8 seconds’ rather than 80 days due to the many languages and accents I hear!

Summer Skye Photography

This diversity makes the ‘Class of 2012’ a particularly creative bunch in an otherwise traditional, Grade II listed, Westminster meetings and events venue.

Since I was talked into this blogging malarkey, I have noticed an increase in my use of puns. Forgive me therefore for saying that my team quite literally bring a myriad of tastes and flavours to our tables at OGGSVenue.

Catering is such a transient industry that in the dozen years that I have been here about 50 staff from 20 countries have passed through the our doors of my kitchen, and in some way or another they have all contributed to the way we operate today.

It is this diversity that makes my job so interesting and rewarding. Most catering operations outside of independent restaurants are usually so strictly governed by company directives that freedom of expression is suppressed in favour of conformity. The beauty of being a stand-alone, autonomous conference and events venue is that I am able to draw on the combined knowledge of the team and implement improvements at will.

Because of their collective experience the whole team are very much involved in making the decisions that effect the operation. There are the obvious ones such as creating menus and food service, but there’s also hygiene, training, safety, logistics and administration etc to consider. It is amazing how committed people are to a cause if they had influence over it’s creation in the first place.

Perhaps we should create a 7- course tasting menu representing a favourite dish from each of my team’s home countries including Singapore, Slovakia, Jamaica, South Africa, the Phillipines, and Ireland. As Head Chef, I think I deserve Chef's prerogative for a very English Amuse Bouche!

2012 Opening Ceremony…What sustainable dish will I be cooking on the special Friday?

2012-04-16T07:39:00.004-07:00

With all the planning that has gone into deliveries, road closures and making sure my chefs can get to work, the actual details of what we are going to cook has been put, if you will excuse the pun, on the back burner.

With the opening ceremony being on a Friday (27th July) together with our involvement in the Olympic food pledge, it seems only natural to be cooking with fish on that day.

I have had to dip my toe into the murky waters and shifting sands of fish sustainability. Buying sustainable fish is something that takes some time and effort. It is not quite as black and white as people believe, and it’s a good idea to talk to your suppliers and keep an eye on official websites.

So, having checked the availability of Coley and organic Salmon, for the opening ceremony we are making ‘Scrumpy cider, leek, Salmon and Coley casserole with Yukon Gold potato crust’.

Here is the recipe:

• Thoroughly wash your potatoes and boil them whole with the skin on until they are about ¾ cooked, then remove them from the heat.
• Prepare your fish by removing all the bones and if you prefer, the skin. Cut into approx 3cm dice but don’t discard any off cuts as they can go into the mix as well.
• In a hot pan with a little oil and butter, seal the fish but don’t cook it all the way through. Remove from the pan into an oven proof dish.
• In the same pan add a little more butter and cook some roughly cut English leeks and chopped onion until they begin to soften then add to the fish.
• Still using the fish and leek pan, put it back on the heat and pour in a good glug of cider and boil it rapidly until it has reduced by half.
• Add enough organic double cream to be able to cover the fish and bring it to the boil. Season it with salt, pepper and cayenne then pour it over the fish. Mix in some fresh chopped herb to your taste.
• Take your potatoes and slice them whole in approx 1cm slices. (Don’t worry if the slices break or crumble). Cover the fish with the potato slices and brush with melted butter before putting into an oven at approx 180°C until the potatoes have turned golden brown.

This really is a quick, tasty and easy dish to make and can be adapted to your personal taste. I like lots of leeks in mine, a squeeze of lemon juice and possibly the addition of some wild mushrooms? It can be served either on its own, with some additional vegetables or even a side salad.

You have 100 days to plan your own menu for that day. Make it a great fish one, sustainable of course!

Keep an eye on our Facebook page as I'll aim to post some videos and photos in the run up to the big day.

What do I love and hate about bowl food?

2012-04-12T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hello again and thank you for coming back to read my second attempt at blogging.

Those of you who are regulars here at One Great George Street may have noticed that we have an additional section in this years Catering Menu, with the inclusion of bowl food for the first time. Yesterday my team prepared a tasting session for the Sales and Events team, this is one meeting everyone turned up for and on time! Here is a snap of me taking one of the bowl food trays out to them to sample.
Bowl food is of course hardly the new kid on the block as far as food innovation is concerned, so why, you might ask, have we never featured it before? To be honest the only reason it hasn’t made it onto the menus in the past is because I personally didn’t really know how I felt about it as function food.

What did I think I hated about bowl food?
1) Definitely concerns over practicality. What do you do with your glass while you are eating, as you need two hands to do so?
2) What happens to the empties in a busy
3) Do we want to invest in the equipment and where do we then store it?

4) Will we always have enough service space?
5) Will it be a two minute Fad that would fade away?

What I now love about bowl food?
1) Our excellent sales team have been telling me that it is a constant request which has proved to be correct as I can tell from our catering figures and how busy my team are!

2) It's a creative chef's dream because of the huge potential in pure food terms by being able to create small and tasty dishes with very few restrictions.

3) It's perfect for networking events which we are a popular venue for.

4) You can try a 'little bit of this' and 'little bit of that'!

5) It's cost effective if you are on a tight budget in these difficult times and cannot afford one of my 7 course fine dining meals, as impressive and fabulous as they might be.

So this year I finally put my ambivalence to one side and with the aid of my two senior chefs, Joanne Dingwall and Charlene Basan, created a brand new menu.

Now that it’s done I can’t remember why I made such a song and dance about it, and I have gone from being lukewarm to super excited about the whole concept.
We have already done several tastings and the feedback from the clients has been fantastic.

The most popular dishes are proving to be:
1) ‘Thai green curry with sticky rice’
2) ‘Salt and pepper squid with Asian slaw' see the photo at the top of this blog
3) ‘Crab, watermelon, cucumber, mango, ginger and dill salad’
4) ‘Chocolate brownies with white chocolate sauce’

Back to my pots and pans. Until next time........

room?

Welcome! My first blog from the OGGS kitchens....

2012-01-05T03:12:00.002-08:00

Welcome to the first chef's Blog from the kitchens at One Great George Street in Westminster or OGGS as we are often fondly referred to by our regulars. My name is David Wilkinson and it has been my pleasure to have been the head chef here for the past 11 years, where I have lucky enough to see the business develop from promising but fairly modest beginnings into the highly professional, flexible and articulate organization that we operate today.
I came to OGGS in June 2000 with the best part of 20 years experience in 5 Star hotels behind me but even with Intercontinental hotels, The Savoy and Claridges included on my resume, I have to say that this has been the most rewarding and stimulating job I have ever had. The photo below is of The Savoy kitchen team taken back in 1985, yes I am that old and I am somewhere in the back, you will have to take my word for it.

As a stand alone venue with dedicated, in-house catering, we are in complete control of every aspect of the operation from the suppliers we use to the moment the food arrives on the plate, and everything in between. The advantage of course for our customers is that because we are not governed by restrictive corporate or contractual limitations, it gives us unique flexibility.

All this flexibility and autonomy would of course be for nothing without the right team to make it work. A kitchen is only as good as the people working in it and I am privileged to say that I work with the most fantastic team. It would be difficult to imagine a more diverse group of characters with people from as far a-field as the Philippines, Singapore, the Caribbean, South Africa, Poland and Slovakia. I've even got someone from Birmingham!! Before I forget, we are currently recruiting for a Senior Chef de Partie so do let me know if you know suitable candidates.

In future Blogs I will fill you in with details! I'll tell you more about the team, the food, unusual functions and maybe name drop some VIP guests! There is also so much to talk about and discuss in this Jubilee and Olympic year and the challenges and opportunities it brings to a conference venue in Westminster with proud responsibility for hosting the London Media Centre for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Until then thank you for reading the first chefs Blog.