One night in North London

Back in 2019 I woke up one morning with an idea. Could I cook a multi-course meal with matching wine for my friends. Would they be interested in such a thing? Turns out the answer was YES, HELL YES and NOW. So it happened.

The Menu

Armed with a budget, I ordered wine from The Wine Society and the remainder in my pocket headed off Waitrose as it opened on a Saturday morning to decide what the final menu would be. Three trips and eight hours later, I had finished my prep. Armed with bags filled with labeled containers, I arrived at my friend’s house ready to start service. It then dawned on me that the biggest challenge would be eating and drinking with them.

1. Kolhatkar Fried Chicken Wing with last minute demanded aioli. (Lanson Black Label Brut NV)

2. Scallop with roe butter and pear. (Cotes du Rhone Blanc Guigal, 2017)

Voted weakest course of the evening

3. Crab linguine (The Society's Saar Riesling, 2017)

4. Supreme of Guinea Fowl on shallot purée with charred leeks, pressed legs and wild mushrooms & pan jus. (Campanology Margaret River Chardonnay 2017)

I left the shallot purée at home along with the guinea fowl stock

5. Short rib and mushroom pithivier with beef reduction (Dom Durand Pisse Vieille Brouilly, 2017)

Joint winner of best course of the evening

6. Duck breast on truffle infused pomme purée with butter poached chicory and poached pear, and a red wine reduction. (The Society's Exhibition Crozes Hermitage, 2016)

Joint winner of best course of the evening

7. Chocolate truffle, homemade Cheerios and Olorosso jelly (The Society's Exhibition Sauternes 2015)

There’s a story here for another time

8. Cheese Comté, Brie and Cropwell Bishop Stilton (The Society's Port)

We ate. We drank. We drank some more and suddenly it was 3am. At some point there was singing.

Initially, I wanted to do it all over again. Then as reality set in, never again. Until I was persuaded to cook fewer courses for more people in February 2023. But that’s another blog post for another day.