Throw a dinner party without needing to cook, clean or wash up! We tried out a La Belle Assiette hired chef and discovered all the benefits! 

Champagne glasses at the ready!

Recently I was invited to the Locappy offices to enjoy a home-cooked, gourmet meal by Chef Daniel Salvador. It was hosted by Locappy but the service was by La Belle Assiette, a company where you can hire a chef to come into your home and cook a meal for you and your friends/family/people you’re trying to impress. Think Just Eat but instead of cheap, mediocre take away you get and amazing (and fancy) meal!

We were also lucky enough for the menu to be paired with champagnes from Frerejean Frères which was a nice treat!

Our menu

So the way that La Belle Assiette works is you visit the website and put in your postcode and the date/time you want the meal for and it will give you a list of chefs.

Once you select a chef you can view their menus and adjust the number of guests you’ll have. It gives you a price per person (plus a nominal booking fee) and then you can book! Now here’s the part I find really appealing - the price includes the chef to cook the meal in your home, the chef’s travel to and from, all the ingredients for the meal and the clean up!

Cooking preperations

What's more you get all this for prices quite similar to a set menu in an expensive restaurant. Most of the ones I looked at for two were £80-100, though I noticed that with some of the meals it was practically the same price for 4 people as it is for 2 (£165 per person for 2 vs. £88 per person for 4, as an example). So if you’re feeling generous invite a couple of friends over and feel like you’re getting more bang for your buck!

Tables set for a dinner party

First on the Chef Daniel Salvador's menu was our starter of bread with relish and a beetroot and nut salted muffin. The relish and bread were very tasty and the perfect type of starter to sit down to. The muffin was a bit dry - but I can’t help but wonder if they are normally bigger for fewer guests and less prone to drying out. Soon we were served carrot, lentil and orange soup. The orange flavour really came through and I thought it was a great combination.

The our main dish was quail stuffed with chestnuts and leeks with pumpkin puree there were also some parsnips on the side. I had never had quail before but it was juicy and tasty and I enjoyed it (even if I didn’t quite get all the meat off the bone).

Loaf with chutney

Beetroot salted muffin

Soup starter

Finally, our dessert was a chocolate cheesecake which was delicious and rich and wonderful. And as a bonus there was a little ribbon of hard candy that tasted exactly like cotton candy as it melts on your tongue. It was such an unexpected throwback to childhood and the perfect way to end the evening.

I have to say I’m not really the type to throw dinner parties - but if I ever do I will definitely be looking up the La Belle Assiette chefs as I am just enamoured with the concept and would love to be cooked for in my own home without needing to wash up!

Stuffed quail

Chocolate cheesecake dessert

Special thanks to Locappy and La Belle Assiette for inviting us along to their dinner party!

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