Banqueting with Blue Strawberry

The Undercroft - the vaulted space used for welcome drinks before entering the Great Hall

Last month, TBA paid a visit to The Banqueting House for a showcase dinner courtesy of Blue Strawberry caterers. Located in the grounds of Whitehall Palace we were joined at the event by over 350 prestigious people in the events industry and certainly went home amazed with what we saw, ate and drank! 

Our posh 3D invitation which arrived in the post

With an usual and impressive invite received in the post, the event gave some of our well known suppliers such as greathire.co.uk and Sternberg Clarke a chance to show off their latest offerings in the run up to Christmas. 

Blue Strawberry took care of all the catering with quality cocktails and unusual but delicious canapes on arrival before we were called to go upstairs to the Main Hall for dinner. 

A section of The Main Hall on arrival

Specially created for entertaining in 1622, the Main Hall remains as versatile and inspiring as ever.

Spacious enough to accommodate large receptions, awards ceremonies and dinners, yet intimate for smaller personal celebrations, the room boasts wonderful acoustics and magnificent pillars soaring toward one of the world’s great masterpieces: Rubens’ irreplaceable ceiling.

With a five course feast ahead, a bright array of purple and orange flowers from Simon J Lycett Ltd made beautiful table centre pieces. What really made the meal stand out was the caterer's unusual ingredients and couplings of food. To give you a taster of what we experienced:

- Truffled custard with carrot jelly, soused vegetables, rosemary sand and marcona almonds
- Charred swordfish with a sesame crust, meyer lemon gel, tobiko & broccoli puree
- Grilled sirloin of beef with lobster ravioli pattypan squash, smoked bone marrow with beurre noisette & jus
- Devonshire blue cheese with salted caramel crisp, compressed plums and aged balsamic powder
- Snowstorm meringue, white chocolate and coconut snowballs

Within the courses we were treated to various entertainment acts with our favorite being girl band - The Lips, made up of four singers who each had an individual talent. From beat-boxing to soprano, all members gelled to form something incredibly different than your average girl group, leaving us wanting more. 

Having also had the honor of sitting next to Blue Strawberry's Managing Director, it was a really memorable night and we certainly hope to be working soon with all suppliers who kindly hosted the night.