Following the recent nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the general public’s interest in the previously-unknown concept of ‘bowl food’ has now shot through the roof and is the latest hot topic on everybody’s lips. We take a look at just some of the more informal dining set-ups hosted at our member venues across London and enjoy a foray into the world of pop-up food stations:
During the historic re-launch of Hintze Hall, welcoming Hope the Blue Whale in place of Dippy the Dinosaur, Rhubarb Catering carefully created dishes representing the oceanic theme. The ‘Giraffes’ Playground’ provided a bespoke veggie offering centred on the museum’s towering giraffe specimen, standing at 4.35m tall. The pastry team took dessert to new heights with an edible chocolate smoking volcano filled with chocolate and chilli lava, raspberry lava, chocolate soil and nitro dark rocks. A delicious array of puddings surrounding the centrepiece from dino fossils with yuzu whipped ganache, lemon and mint confit to dino eggs with peppermint and praline or passion fruit, mango and coconut flavours. For the more adventurous diner there were also moving stalls of creepy crawlies and insects including: windfall apple, chicken parfait, apple glee and edible insects; foraged herb salad with puffed rice maggots and grissini twigs infested crawlies with pine emulsion dip.
Choosing an art gallery as your venue provides endless inspiration for your event styling. At the iconic National Gallery you can engage with the surrounding paintings and bring these to life through the use of food stations at your event. Recreate a still life painting or emulate a British landscape scene through your food stations to create a more immersive environment that will leave guests with an unforgettable impression of your event.
Centrally located in the world famous Covent Garden piazza, London Transport Museum and Clerkenwell Green have taken inspiration from local history and bring the outside in with their market themed food stalls. At the Covent Garden stall guests are welcomed by chefs building spring garden salads in individual bowls featuring exciting vegetarian flavours such as slow cooked heirloom tomatoes, rosary ash goats cheese and heritage beets. Moving across to the Old Billingsgate, highlights include London gin and beetroot cured salmon and crayfish cocktail. Paying homage to Smithfield Market, the last stall serves a charcuterie with live craving an optional extra.
The Royal Horticultural Halls recently held a showcase event where Food Show provided exquisite canapés served in miniature glass domes and individual gardens in urchin shells, creating a gastronomic wonderland for guests. The cuisine was perfectly compatible with the horticultural theme of the Halls’ artwork and design, with 875sqm of flexible space the venue could host a large number of food stations, Prosecco bars and immersive pop-ups. Royal Horticultural Halls have recently re-tendered its catering list and now can offer food stations from the followingcaterers: Bubble, Food By Dish, Create, Food Show, Moving Venue, The Recipe, Eden and Sands Catering as well as a range of Kosher, Asian and African caterers.
As Cutty Sark has been to every major port in the world it lends itself to lots of different cuisines which clients wish to capture in their events, as a result the events team at Greenwich is beginning to see more and more themed food stations. Fish and seafood is always popular due to the venue’s Maritime heritage. Cutty Sark was a tea clipper so event bookers are always encouraged to enjoy a Tea station, offering an array of different flavoured teas from around the world. It gets everybody up after dinner and is a great ice breaker!
To check out the breadth of caterers who work across a number of Unique Venues of London’s event spaces, visit our Event Suppliers page.