THE PIG hit London for The Catey Awards on Tuesday night at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, W1, where the three course awards dinner was served with a twist for 1250 guests from the restaurant and hotel industry.
Unlike in the past when a named chef has created the awards dinner menu and overseen the kitchen at Grosvenor House, this year we designed the menu and then grew, supplied and served all vegetables and fruit used on the evening. The gardening teams at all four of our hotels have been preparing for this for nearly 12 months, with the first seed planted in August 2016, and all timed to perfection for harvesting for the event.
Check out our video here.
Head Gardener, Ollie Hutson, said: “With 4 gardens and their teams we knew we had the time and space to grow enough fresh veg and fruit for over 1250 people, the weather has worked in our favour and all our produce was hand picked and delivered freshly including 20kg of mint - enough to create our classic Garden Mint Mousse for everyone!”
James Golding, Chef Director of THE PIG hotels, together with the Grosvenor House brigade, oversaw the creation of the awards menu, which demonstrated THE PIG’s philosophy of crafting the best, uncomplicated, seasonal kitchen garden food, using only the freshest and most authentic locally sourced produce and home grown ingredients.
James said: “We are delighted to be the first hotel group to supply and serve home grown produce for The Cateys, and bring a little taste of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon to each of the award’s guest’s plates.”
All tables at Grosvenor House were transformed into ‘PIG style tables’ using vintage plates, mis-matched cutlery, seed trays and plant pots. Guests at the event included a plethora of Michelin starred chefs including Angela Hartnett, Head Chef at Lime Wood’s Hartnett Holder & Co, Raymond Blanc, Tom Kerridge, Jason Atherton, Tom Aikens and Simon Rogan.
Robin Hutson, CEO of Home Grown Hotels, left nothing to chance by importing 22 PIG waiting staff complete in their relaxed style of pink button down shirts, jeans, and converse trainers to help serve and provide a bit of youthful colour amongst the traditional black and white penguins!
