La Belle Assiette Review

I love hosting guests at mine, however I hate washing up. Whilst in London, I’d host dinners for around 4-10 guests at a time, wine-a-plenty. When Emily of Good Girl Gone Brum, mentioned that she’d be hosting a dinner party with a private chef and that I was invited, I couldn’t contain my excitement.

The clever idea of a private chef coming to your home to cook a three course meal for you and your friends comes from La Belle Assiette. Not entirely a new concept, however it’s recently taken off in Birmingham. La Belle Assiette private chefs can also be found in Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Sheffield.

I have to apologise in advance for my sloppiness in photos and lack of remembering most details of the night, I had just returned from Sweden and was on about day 10 of having glandular fever (unbeknown to me at the time). I don’t know how I managed to find the energy as my appetite was abysmal.

Our chef for the evening was Monica Sawhney Haldar. You might know her food from The Spice Club or her Spice Diary blog. She specialises in North Indian cuisine.

Our menu for the evening was vegetable and seafood focused, making it suitable for two of the diner’s pescetarian dietary requirements. The food was prepped in our host’s kitchen, utlising the space available. Fear not if you have a small kitchen, the chef will be just fine!

The nice thing about having a chef in your home, creating the meal for you and your guests, is that you can actually socialise. We started off with gin & tonics, then moved on to a couple of glasses of Cava.

We started off with a palate cleanser, a shot of Sweet Basil Lassi. The consistency was creamy, with a nice bite of crisp, refreshing acidity. We were then served individual portions of our starter Samosa Chaat. I really enjoyed the crispy pastry, I guess I’m used to very oily moist samosas.

Ours main courses came out in a sharing format, family style for everyone to tuck in. There was rice, naan, pomegranate raita, okra, a courgette kofta curry, paneer cheese and prawns. The Chingri Malai Prawn Curry was a winner for all, with everyone asking for seconds! Chef Monica knows how to cook prawns, not a second overcooked!  Perfectly tender, juicy and naturally flavoursome.

I really liked that each dish was brought out by our chef and explained. We finished up with a delicious dessert Aam Malai. It consisted of  cardamom, rose  and a mango sorbet.

*I was a guest of Emily Muscat, who was invited for a validation evening. I was not required to write a review or blog post. I enjoyed it so much, I just had to share!

As always, my writing and my honest views.

-Winepressgirl x