A Butchery Masterclass with Executive Chef, Bruce Wilson

There's nothing like a hands on butchery masterclass with a group of chefs to bring added inspiration to autumn menu planning. And that's exactly what Bruce Wilson, our Executive Chef and Alex Hall, Group Head Chef had in mind when they brought together their band of chefs from each of our sites last week.

 

Bruce shared his in-depth knowledge about different cuts of meat, talked about all the different cuts of pork and also how to fillet different types of fish. It was also a great opportunity for all our chefs to integrate, share their ideas and discuss how we can make the most of the wealth of local suppliers available to us.

The chefs finished their day with a trip to Brixton Market to check out new street food offers which are becoming increasingly popular and to enjoy a tasty lunch together.

 

 

Creative New Food Concepts

We’ve spent the past few months creating a whole host of exciting new food concepts to enhance eating and drinking for visitors to the exhibitions and outdoor events at which we cater. Inspired by the popularity of street food (we ate our way across every London street food market in the name of research!) we devised a small number of dishes for each concept using the very best ingredients from small producers across the south of England. We let our imaginations run wild with the naming, the dressing and presentation of our vans. Our staff love their new uniforms and their new working environments and the feedback we’ve had from our customers has been fantastic – they love the flavours, the freshness and the theatre.

Sticky Fingers with a menu of braised Hereford short rib and brisket, braised onions and blue cheese served in a toasted brioche bun. Or buttermilk-marinated chicken, deep fried in smoked paprika flour and servedwith a freshly made waffle and maple syrup.

Delicious Vietnamese Banh Mi, Udon Noodle Soup with marinated tofu or Vietnamese Cod, spiced with chilli, lemongrass and corainder, steamed in a banana leaf and served with tam tom salad and vegetable crackers.



Perfect pairings of wine and food. Pork, smoked ham and parsely rillettes, hot roastedand smoked salmon rillettes with dill and chestnut mushroom, garlic and parsley duxelle. All served with cornichons, baby onions, pickles and ficelle.



Service with a Smile

Well done to the fantastic team at Excel who had a very busy event last week including functions in the The Boulevard Bar & Grill.  Happy, helpful and hardworking - thank you!

Anchors Away!

The Tullett Prebon London Boat Show came to an end last week after a very busy 9 days for the Creative team at ExCeL London.  With 5 on-floor pop ups and 10 fixed site operations open, including the newly refurbished Waterfronts, it was a huge success with over 93,000 people attending!  A few shots of the glamorous bars below and a BIG well done to all of the team!