Posted: 30th June 2014
Our Head Chef, Will Carvalho, recently created a menu for an Alice in Wonderland themed pop up restaurant. We asked Will to share the experience with us…
“When I was invited to create the menu for Alice in Wonderland, I had to watch the movie from Tim Burton and read the book from Lewis Carroll. Everyone was welcomed with a “Drink Me” & “Eat Me” treat when entering our own Wonderland.
The amuse bouche was inspired by the chapter where Alice arrives at the garden, so our guests were served an edible soil made out of black olives and sour dough bread, with creamy goats cheese and tomato relish underneath with asparagus tip and baby carrot on top. During this course, our Alice character acted out a scene with the Cheshire Cat.
Moving into the starter, I couldn’t step away from the field of mushrooms when Alice is inside Wonderland, so I went for the wild mushroom risotto. Risotto is probably my trade mark dish, and so I couldn’t leave it out from the menu! The main course, which was inspired by the idea of having Muck Turtle Soup, was a big challenge. We slow cooked beef for 24 hours at 65 degrees and this was accompanied by a “turtle egg” made of turnip mousse and rich meat broth.
During the starter and mains, there were games and acts performed from the Mad Hatter. For dessert, the Queen of Hearts had to step in and shouted were famous quote “Who stole my tarts!?” followed immediately by a service of raspberry tarts in a shape of heart with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.”