Menu Tasting

28 August. One of the most important things about organising a Conference is getting the food right. It is not something that I feel can be left to chance, so I was first to volunteer to visit this year’s Conference Hotel, the Bristol City Centre Marriott, to taste different menu options, in order to arrive at our preferred choices for the Gala Dinner on the Saturday evening of the Conference, which begins on 2^nd October (Only 1 month to go!). The plan was that the DG and I would  travel  there early today and in the evening we were to meet Mike and Becky Thorn at the Hotel for the menu-tasting. I didn’t know how extensive the Hotel’s menu was, so thought it best to starve myself for a couple of days previously, so I could make the most of all the steaks, pies, fish, salads, soups and desserts on offer.

                                     The Marriott Bristol City Centre

It is a couple of hours’ drive for us to get to Bristol, so I took the day off work , and the DG and I set off early to spend the day in the city. We arrived in torrential rain and found it very slow negotiating our way around the City, partly due to the weather and partly due to roadworks in several places.  This seems to happen every summer all across the country.  Us drivers look forward to the school holidays so that we can have more comfortable journeys on the roads, only to find that local councils decide this is exactly the right time to dig the roads up.

Our first call was a business visit to the famous Bristol Blue Glass factory and show room, where the DG wanted to purchase gifts for speakers and other VIPs at the Conference. Their glassware is beautiful, and consequently not cheap, but the DG skilfully negotiated a good discount for 18 items, and even found time to buy some jewellery for herself  (quelle surprise).

                                              Bristol Blue glassware

                                         Bristol Blue Glass shop

Literally across the road from the show room is a beautiful cemetery, called Arnos Vale, It is on a 45 acre site, where graves and memorials are laid out amongst  beautiful trees and wildflowers. There are woodland walks on good paths all year round, and organised events throughout the year.  If I lived locally, I think I would spend a lot of time here.

                                          The DG at Arnos Vale

The rain had stopped by now and the place looked magical in the sunlight, so we had a brief stroll through the grounds and visited the café for some refreshment. I didn’t want to eat much in view of the orgy of eating that was coming later, so I had a salad and a cup of tea. The DG, unfortunately,  ordered a panini which she didn’t enjoy much, so of course I was called upon to help out. Having eaten half of the DG’s panini as well as my own lunch I felt quite full, which was a bit of a worry in view of what was coming later.

                                                     Clifton Suspension bridge

                                            On the bridge

With the time remaining in the afternoon, we decided to visit one of Bristol’s greatest landmarks, the Clifton Suspension bridge. This spectacular bridge was constructed by Brunel in 1864, and crosses the Avon Gorge.  We started by crossing the bridge in the car, paying the £1 toll, then drove around to a free crossing and back up to the bridge through some super residential streets of stately Georgian houses,  parked as near as possible to the bridge and walked across it, admiring the dramatic views to the river Avon below us. In a park near the bridge, at the top of the cliff on the Bristol side is an 18^th Century Observatory (interestingly being sold by auction as a residential dwelling) which had, at the very top, a ‘camera obscura’.  A box on top of the building contains a convex lens and sloping mirror, which projects a panoramic view of the surrounding area onto a white surface inside a darkened room. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but it was fascinating to use this 16^th Century technology.

                                                        The Observatory

So then it was back to the hotel where we met up with Mike and Becky. Mike, who is the Conference Chairman had arranged for us to firstly meet up with Holly, the Hotel events manager, to run through our requirements for the Conference from day 1 through to a wrap up meeting when everything was finished on Day 4. Holly seemed very professional and efficient, and I think we all have great confidence in her. She was well prepared and on top of everything, even having researched our last Conference there in 2012 for the sake of comparison.

After our meeting, Holly introduced us to the Food and Beverages manager, (called Mark, I think), who was to guide us through the menu-tasting. He seemed rather young, but extremely knowledgeable, particularly about wine, which he said was self-taught.  It is said that you can tell you are getting old when the policemen seem to be getting younger, well the same seems to apply to Food and Beverages managers.

I hadn’t realised it, but this was also to be a wine-tasting, as Mark had 5 wines for us to try, from which we would choose two as table wines at the Gala Dinner.  The DG immediately offered to drive home, which meant I could sample the wines without fear.

                                                 Starters

Not  for the first  time, I had misunderstood what was involved in the menu-tasting. We weren’t going to eat our way through the whole menu, but Mark had selected four starters, four main courses and four desserts.  We would each sample some of each dish, which meant that effectively the four of us would each have the equivalent to one of each; in other words  a regular-sized meal. This was actually a relief to me, in view of the larger than expected lunch I had eaten. The starters included one soup of a fishy nature, gravadlax with a fishy terrine, vegetarian ravioli and something that looked like a scotch egg. The mains included roast mackerel, a Thai vegetable curry, Roast lamb and Roast beef.  Puddings were a berry cheesecake, a chocolate mousse, apple pie with custard, and cheese and biscuits.

                                    2 Main Courses

                                        2 more main courses

I had forgotten that Becky Thorn is actually a food writer and critic, who has published 3 books of her own on cookery, has appeared on Masterchef (she didn’t tell anyone until afterwards) and has another TV booking shortly, to discuss school dinners. Needless to say, she had some strong views on the dishes we were tasting, and made some suggestions to the deputy head chef, who came out to discuss the meals with us. Personally, I found it difficult to choose, because I am easily pleased, and frankly I enjoyed all the meals that were presented to us. Also, with the wines, I didn’t really experience the different tastes and flavours that Mark described to us, although I think Becky, with her more sophisticated palate, certainly did.

                                                   Desserts

In the end, after much eating and discussing, we decided on two starters, mains, and desserts, and also a bottle of red and a bottle of white. These will appear on the menu of the Gala Dinner at the Conference. I won’t divulge them now, as I don’t want to spoil things for the rest of the Conference committee, but I am confident it will be a very good dinner.

It was nearly 10 o’clock by the time we finally bade farewell and started on the journey home, with the DG driving along a mostly quiet M4. On the way home we picked Daisy up (Linda had kindly looked after her for the evening) and finally got back home at around midnight.