Chefs just wanna have fun

A five-course dinner with a cheeky little surprise at the end rounded off a successful day for the 450 guests. Diane Lane reports.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but having your caricature piped in chocolate and served at an industry dinner attended by 450 of your peers is a lot more fun.

And fun was exactly what the London Hilton Metropole's head pastry chef Claire Clark had in mind when she created the unusual embellishment for the petits fours that rounded off Caterer‘s 20th annual Chef Conference dinner last week. The plates delivered to each of the 43 tables in the Monarch Suite displayed the best features of the day's participants, including Nick Nairn, Anthony Bourdain, Michael Caines, Philip Howard and Roger Black.

The five-course meal, executed by executive chef Nigel Frost and his brigade, with the addition of Howard and Caines, drew much praise from diners.

Howard delivered the first two courses, assisted by a chef de partie from the Square, Stefano Santo. The dishes, which both appear on the menu at the Square, worked well for the higher number of covers than Howard is used to cooking for, although with hindsight he felt a terrine might have worked better.

"With a cappuccino it's difficult to get everyone's sauce light and airy," he said. He was very happy with the crab lasagne, a dish he describes as "dead posh comfort food".

The baton was then handed over to Michael Caines, along with his junior sous chef Mark Rossi, to recreate the sea bass dish he had demonstrated at the afternoon's masterclass. "I decided to do sea bass because it's a thick fish that is easy to cook in bulk," said Caines, who breezed through 450 covers thanks to his experience of banqueting at London's Grosvenor House hotel during his formative years.

Exuding calm, Frost delivered the main course - pork tenderloin with prunes, apple, black pudding, Stilton potato scone, quince and mead sauce - without so much as breaking sweat before Clark romped down the home straight with her symphony of chocolate comprising a flourless chocolate cake with a milk chocolate ice-cream flavoured with orange oil and topped with an orange confit, a hot chocolate fondant, a white chocolate mousseline filled with butterscotch and hazelnuts, a bitter chocolate and cherry tart, and a chocolate crème brûlée.

Caterer & Hotelkeeper would like to thank British Meat, The Dudson Group, Baron Professional (UK), Aramark, John Armit Wines, Lindt & Sprungli, Kikkoman, Alfresco Drinks, Nestlé, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Espirit Décor, H Forman & Son, Hildon Mineral Water and The Food Group for their support of the conference dinner.

The menu

Agusti Torello Mata Reserva, Penedès Spain NV
Consommé of chicken with tarragon foam
Lasagne of crab with a mousseline of scallops
Steenberg Motif Sauvignon Semillon, Constantia, South Africa 2001

Pan-fried sea bass on a bed of fennel and onion confit with fennel cream and red wine sauce
Steenberg Motif Cabernet Merlot, Constantia, South Africa 1999
Pork tenderloin with prunes, apple, black pudding, Stilton potato scone, quince and mead sauce
**Symphony of chocolate

Petits fours and coffee**