Mexico Day - September 16th 2006

Rib Day 2 - March 17th 2006

A touch of the “ Titanic” re-lived in Mojacar - April 18th 2005!

Recently I was lucky enough to enjoy a wonderful meal with family & a couple of
Good friends. Nothing unusual about that you may think, but different it certainly was, as our hosts had not had to lift a finger! No shopping for ingredients, no spending all day in the kitchen preparing food, no cooking, no finding the right wines or thinking of a menu, not even had they had to lay out the (beautiful) table with its silver cutlery & sparkling glasses & best of all no washing up to do!

The hard working staff of a brand new company Chefs on the run did all this behind the scenes, quietly & efficiently in our host’s own home.

The table looked delightful. Our hosts had booked for a dinner party & wanted a suggestion of menu that was a little bit different for their guests. This was a date in April, which as it turned out was the anniversary of the famed ship “The Titanic”. Chefs on the run had thus come up with the innovative idea of reproducing the First class (of course) menu for us to enjoy.

Every place setting was laid with an individually printed menu & name card. Both bore the legend R: M: S Titanic & carried the crest of The White Star Line, we were suddenly transported to another elegant period in time! The night was not to end fatefully for us thankfully!

One of the team Mat announced dinner to be served & along with Kat, both dressed very professionally in traditional waiters uniform with stripped waistcoats and long aprons, were ready to serve the meal while the other partner of the chefs Jo kept the flow of the kitchen going behind the scenes.

As we were served our hors d´oeuvres of petite ciabatta bread slices topped with salmon mousse & prawn followed by oysters a la ruse (Oysters delicious in picante vinaigrette) we could hear the sweet resonance of background music was it the unfaltering Titanic band or maybe it was a CD after all? It certainly added to the atmosphere of the evening.

Next came consommé Olga very light & tasty.

Our next course was a lightly cooked small salmon fillet with mousseline sauce perfectly done.

This was followed by Fillet mignon lili & chicken lyonnaise, served from silver platters so one could have as much or as little to each person’s preference. Both tasted wonderful.

You may think that sounded like the main course but still to arrive at the table was Lamb with mint sauce, roast duckling with apple, chateau potatoes with minted peas & creamed carrots it was all splendid.

To refresh our palettes a wonderfully coloured Punch Romaine was served over crushed iceberg (well cubes really!). Ingredients were a secret but I was told based in champagne & rum. A full spare jug was left in the centre of the table but this quickly & mysteriously evaporated!

Alas I had to pass on the other course as I was so satiated but the men of the party ate on and enjoyed very much the roast squab served with cold asparagus vinaigrette & celery.

With each course (& there were quite a few!) Matt or Kat served a different wine each chosen to compliment the meal it was not left on the table but topped up when necessary by the vigilant pair. In addition to hand was water & juice for any passengers, sorry! I meant guests that are non-drinkers or the drivers that may be present in a party. All the glasses, cutlery & plates were fresh to every course also.

Meanwhile chef Jo was putting the finished touches to our desserts. We were full to bursting but had to give them a try & scrumptious they were. Waldorf pudding (yes main ingredients apple & walnuts) peaches in carteuse jelly & chocolate vanilla éclairs all homemade.

As with every Titanic meal we finished with coffee after dinner mints & a good glass of port or brandy with the band playing on to send us on our way.

The whole evening was superb & as we finished up our nightcaps & told our usual tall stories & terrible jokes the Chefs on the run were quietly working in the background packing away & finishing washing up. As they sailed away into the dark night there was nothing left to do expect sit back & think how fortunate we were to enjoy such a fabulous evening thanks to the hard working team.

I approached Jo at the end of the evening to book a small dinner for an up-coming birthday & asked for more information on their business.

Chefs on the run is comprised of a team of three – with Katrina “Kat” Pumpa as waitress, Matthew Edwards as Maitre d’, and Jo Jones as head Chef. Chefs on the run are happy to cater for dinner parties of between 4 to 12 people, business lunches & dinners. They provide a sample A La Carte menu giving the choice of 12 different entrée & 12 main courses, with various desserts. This is adaptable to accommodate any ideas you may have yourself & of course special diets will be catered for happily.

Also the chefs can offer a wedding catering service & a rather good idea I thought is during the good weather they will take the heat out of running a BBQ party should you be thinking of hosting one.

If your not an A La Carte person fear not chefs can also turn their hand to good home cooking if maybe you prefer a traditional shepherd pie or lasagne.

Furthermore they will be happy to provide a delivery service for you to put your own finishing touches to at home.

Do you remember what you ate for dinner last Wednesday? This is a meal you will never forget… We were glad we ran into them!