Galetti, Campbell and Sargeant raise £17,500 for Hospitality Action

A fundraising dinner for industry charity Hospitality Action has raised £17,500, with food from chefs Monica Galetti (pictured), John Campbell and Mark Sargeant.

The dinner, which took place last night at Brasserie Joël at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel in London, was first announced in December last year. It also saw Walter Ishizuka from Brasserie Joël help prepare the canapés, and was sponsored by foodservice firm BaxterStorey.

The menu, revealed late last month, included a starter of black curry scallop with basmati and white miso purée and fresh lime from former Le Gavroche sous chef Galetti; a main course of braised pork cheek and black pudding steamed suet pudding with wild garlic, smoked bacon and leeks from Sargeant; and a dessert of chocolate crémeux with passion fruit, coconut and black olive from Campbell.

Tickets to the event cost £135 per person, or £1,300 for a table of 10. In cooking for the event, the chefs joined a long list of names to help raise cash for the charity, including Claude Bosi, Sat Bains, Daniel Clifford, Andrew Fairlie and Tom Kerridge.

Campbell said: "I am delighted that the evening was such a great success. The £17,500 raised tonight will give hope to all those suffering within our industry and let them know they always have somewhere to turn."

In an interview with The Caterer earlier this month, Sargeant said it meant a great deal to him to cook at the event. He said: "Everyone in hospitality works hard, but not everyone is as fortunate as Monica, John and me. Hospitality Action helps people with a wide range of problems, from addiction to illness to serious injury. Without it, thousands of people every year would have nowhere to turn."

Last year, Hospitality Action raised over £630,000 for current and previous hospitality staff who had fallen on difficult times, including those who needed support paying their winter fuel bill.

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