Private dining

Five courses. Your table. Somebody else at the sink.

A tasting menu cooked in your kitchen and served in your dining room, anywhere within about forty minutes of Belfast. Not the pizza night. This is the sit-down one.

Check a date What it costs

A pork and ham course being finished with herbs and a crisp on slate — **Plate I**
One of five, served to the table

01What a dinner isYour table, your numbers

A tasting menu, in your house

Five courses, cooked in your kitchen and served at your table. A set tasting menu or something built around the occasion, agreed with you beforehand. Anywhere within about forty minutes of Belfast.

Either the set five courses or something built around the occasion. Bespoke costs no more than the set menu; it just needs the conversation a fortnight out.

A small tableSeated, plated, five courses, paced through the evening. This is the version the whole thing is built around.
A bigger tableStill five courses, but sharing plates down the middle rather than individually plated. It is the better way to eat at that size, and it keeps everything coming out hot.
A crowdAsk. Past a certain point it needs a second pair of hands and more oven, both of which can be arranged. Tell us the number and we will tell you what is possible.

A cured salmon course with radish, cucumber and herbs on a dark plate — **Plate II**
Plated, not passed round

02Where this comes fromBefore Belfast

An alpine village lit up at dusk in the snow — **Plate III**
Six seasons, a new table every week

Six winters of this

Before Belfast there were six seasons running chalets in the Alps: a new set of guests every week, five courses a night, every allergy and dislike on a list stuck to somebody else's fridge.

A chalet season teaches you one thing properly: how to cook well in a kitchen you did not design, for people you met that afternoon. That is the whole job of a private dinner.

Phil, six seasons and the one at the pass

03How an evening runsMethod

Five steps, a fortnight

Most of the work happens before the day. What you are buying is somebody else’s planning, and an evening off in your own house.

A fortnight before
We talk about the menu
What the occasion is, who is coming, what they cannot eat, and what you actually like. Either the set five courses or something built from scratch. The second costs no more, it just needs the conversation.
The week before
The shopping happens
Sourced against the menu rather than the menu written against a delivery. This is also when we confirm what your kitchen has and what we need to bring.
The afternoon of
We arrive and take over
Usually about four hours before you sit down. Prep, mise en place, and staying out of the way while people arrive.
From eight
Five courses, paced
Served to the table, one at a time, at the speed of the evening rather than the speed of the kitchen. Nobody is rushed and nothing arrives while you are mid-story.
By midnight
The kitchen as you left it
Cleared, washed, and put back. You should wake up to a kitchen that shows no sign anyone cooked five courses in it.

Panna cotta with raspberry sorbet, honeycomb and raspberries on slate — **Plate IV**
Step four. Paced to the evening

04What it costsWithin 40 minutes of BT7

Priced up front

The minimum covers the evening for a small table. Above that it is per head. The fewer of you there are the dearer a plate works out, which is the honest trade for a private table.

Minimum: £550
Then: £68 a head

What that includes

A menu agreed with you, around the occasion and the allergies
Five courses, plated and served through the evening
All the shopping, prep and cooking
Wine suggestions for each course, so you can buy well
Your kitchen left the way we found it

What it does not

Drinks. We suggest, you pour. No licence, no mark-up
Crockery and glassware for more than twelve, usually
Anything that needs a kitchen we have not seen

05Ask about a dateOne reply, usually within a day

Tell us the date

The form asks for the handful of things that decide whether an evening is possible, so the first reply can be a real answer with a price on it rather than more questions.

A long table set with plates, candles and flowers before anyone sits down — **Plate V**
Your table, an hour before

Private dining

Five courses. Your table. Somebody else at the sink.

A tasting menu cooked in your kitchen and served in your dining room, anywhere within about forty minutes of Belfast. Not the pizza night. This is the sit-down one.

Check a date What it costs

01What a dinner isYour table, your numbers

A tasting menu, in your house

Five courses, cooked in your kitchen and served at your table. A set tasting menu or something built around the occasion, agreed with you beforehand. Anywhere within about forty minutes of Belfast.

Either the set five courses or something built around the occasion. Bespoke costs no more than the set menu; it just needs the conversation a fortnight out.

A small tableSeated, plated, five courses, paced through the evening. This is the version the whole thing is built around.
A bigger tableStill five courses, but sharing plates down the middle rather than individually plated. It is the better way to eat at that size, and it keeps everything coming out hot.
A crowdAsk. Past a certain point it needs a second pair of hands and more oven, both of which can be arranged. Tell us the number and we will tell you what is possible.

02Where this comes fromBefore Belfast

Six winters of this

Before Belfast there were six seasons running chalets in the Alps: a new set of guests every week, five courses a night, every allergy and dislike on a list stuck to somebody else's fridge.

A chalet season teaches you one thing properly: how to cook well in a kitchen you did not design, for people you met that afternoon. That is the whole job of a private dinner.

Phil, six seasons and the one at the pass

03How an evening runsMethod

Five steps, a fortnight

Most of the work happens before the day. What you are buying is somebody else’s planning, and an evening off in your own house.

A fortnight before
We talk about the menu
What the occasion is, who is coming, what they cannot eat, and what you actually like. Either the set five courses or something built from scratch. The second costs no more, it just needs the conversation.
The week before
The shopping happens
Sourced against the menu rather than the menu written against a delivery. This is also when we confirm what your kitchen has and what we need to bring.
The afternoon of
We arrive and take over
Usually about four hours before you sit down. Prep, mise en place, and staying out of the way while people arrive.
From eight
Five courses, paced
Served to the table, one at a time, at the speed of the evening rather than the speed of the kitchen. Nobody is rushed and nothing arrives while you are mid-story.
By midnight
The kitchen as you left it
Cleared, washed, and put back. You should wake up to a kitchen that shows no sign anyone cooked five courses in it.

04What it costsWithin 40 minutes of BT7

Priced up front

The minimum covers the evening for a small table. Above that it is per head. The fewer of you there are the dearer a plate works out, which is the honest trade for a private table.

Minimum: £550
Then: £68 a head

What that includes

A menu agreed with you, around the occasion and the allergies
Five courses, plated and served through the evening
All the shopping, prep and cooking
Wine suggestions for each course, so you can buy well
Your kitchen left the way we found it

What it does not

Drinks. We suggest, you pour. No licence, no mark-up
Crockery and glassware for more than twelve, usually
Anything that needs a kitchen we have not seen

05Ask about a dateOne reply, usually within a day

Tell us the date

The form asks for the handful of things that decide whether an evening is possible, so the first reply can be a real answer with a price on it rather than more questions.

Five courses. Your table. Somebody else at the sink.

A tasting menu, in your house

Six winters of this

Five steps, a fortnight

We talk about the menu

The shopping happens

We arrive and take over

Five courses, paced

The kitchen as you left it

Priced up front

Tell us the date

Five courses. Your table. Somebody else at the sink.

A tasting menu, in your house

Six winters of this

Five steps, a fortnight

We talk about the menu

The shopping happens

We arrive and take over

Five courses, paced

The kitchen as you left it

Priced up front

Tell us the date