Where to go for lunch meetings in London

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Striking the balance between a great dining experience and a suitably corporate meeting environment can be difficult, if you’re wondering where to go for lunch meetings in London then we’ve got it covered:

Sea Containers @ Mondrian London

Morgan hotel group’s latest property ‘Mondrian London’ is located within Sea Containers House near Blackfriars bridge. The hotel’s restaurant is a fresh, modern space with large windows offering street level views of the River Thames.

The Effective Event Solutions team think this is a great lunch meeting location, as it is relatively quiet mid-week you can chose between the Thames path window seats flooded with light (perfect for pouring over design sheets before your food arrives) or the welcoming round booths (great for small round table discussions).

The Cinnamon Club @ Old Westminster Library

On old Westminster favourite underwent a subtle renovation recently, it’s high ceilings and lovingly restored original features welcome guests into the heart of the Grade II listed building.

The tables are well spaced, so even on a busy day you won’t feel any prying eyes (or ears) from your neighbouring diners.

A creative menu, features contemporary takes on Indian cuisine with enough variety to suit spice-lovers and loathers alike.

Are you looking for new ideas for your next TEAM NIGHT OUT?

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Whether it’s all out team building, a reward for exceeding targets or just an informal get together, the Effective Event Solutions team know the best places to go for your next Team Night Out!

Ever wondered what it’s like to be part of a traditional Indian Holi Festival? If you haven’t got the time to jet off on an international incentive trip then you’ll be glad to hear this colourful phenomenon has hit UK shores in a big way.

Our friends over at Cinnamon Kitchen & Anise (We used their lovely private dining room as part of a recent Corporate Away Day) are embracing the Holi trend and launching one of their very own!

From the 5th to the 14th of March there will be a vibrant injection of colour in the City of London with the return of their purpose build ‘party pod’. In which, you can don a protective white suit and enjoy 30 minutes in a colourful powder wonderland!

But of course, no Indian festival would be complete without a feast of delicious dishes and Cinnamon Kitchen will be getting into the spirit with a vibrant three-course Holi menu priced at £30 per person. With a delicious array of cocktails on the menu, such as the Bahaan Lasso (Vodka, cointreau, fresh lime, fresh honey dew melon juice) you can continue the Holi party all night!

The spectacular paint throwing festivities mark the renowned festival of colour on Friday 6th March, but if you’re too busy to catch the ‘party pod’ in London ask Effective Event Solutions about year-round availability of this fun activity!

For other Team Building ideas or Restaurant Private Dining options please get in touch via our contact form or email us on Sales@EffectiveEventSolutions.com

Customise this Asian Restaurant for events

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As noted by Emma Cullen in a recent post the British appetite for Japanese cuisine is growing and we’re not just talking about Blue Mondays at Yo Sushi …

A great one for groups is Inamo (pictured), with two central London locations (Soho and St James’) the restaurants feature innovative interactive tables, modern Asian cuisine and mouth-watering sushi.

The interactive tables add an extra dimension to the dining experience with guests able to order food, change their ‘tablecloth’ and even spy on the kitchen at the swipe of a finger. This is a novel way to brand a corporate dinner event or party too – the tables (beamed from projectors above your head) can be completely customised to your brand.

Corporate groups can also have a bit of fun with a team building sushi masterclass or cocktail creation session in Inamo’s seductive bar.

Jay Rayner of The Observer said ‘From the interactive menu to delicious sushi, this is Asian fun at your fingertips’

Contact us here to find out more about what we can offer for product launches and incentive groups as well as corporate experiences at Inamo!

Restaurant Review: Ceviche Soho, London

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The Effective Event Solutions team have traveled all over the globe running inspiring events, but it is always a joy to find authentic international food available when we’re back on British soil!

Last week we were up in London catching up with clients and went to check out Ceviche in the Soho area of the city. Just off the beautiful Soho square this little gem looks like a trendy bar from the street but opens out into a larger dining space at the rear of the building.

One of South America’s best kept secrets the classic ceviche dish has been brought to new audiences in recent years. The method involves cooking with the acidic juice of citrus fruits instead of traditional heat cooking, this preserves the beautiful texture of fresh fish and seafood with a delicious tang.

At Ceviche Soho the citrus-cured fish is available in a variety of forms, other traditional Preuvian dishes such as chargrilled skewers are also available along with an extensive cocktail menu (we opted for classic Pisco Sours – highly recommended!).

Drunk Scallops were a definite favourite – finely sliced discs of king scallop bathed in pisco, lime, chilli, pomegranate and corriander. The ‘house dish’; Don Ceviche is also top notch – meaty sea bass surrounded by amarillo chilli ‘tiger’s milk’ with chilli, red onion and fresh coriander, garnished with sweet potato crisps.

For an informal lunch you can prop up the steel counter-bar, grab dinner on a high wooden table in the restaurant or book the whole place for a fabulous sharing supper and cocktail party with authentic Peruvian pzazz!

Credit Photo: Paul Winch-Furness / www.paulwf.co.uk

Restaurant Spotlight | Berners Tavern Review

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All day dining goes upmarket: Berners Tavern serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner under the expert direction of Michelin starred chef Jason Atherton, located just off Oxford Street inside the contemporary London EDITION Hotel.

The London EDITION (see our hotel blog post here) is the second collaboration between the Marriott group and hotel legend Ian Schrager – find out more about the hotel brand vision in this interview with Schrager.

Berners Tavern serves contemporary British cuisine within award-winning (Interior Design of the Year at the European Hotel Awards for one!) and stylish surroundings.

Every inch of the dramatic high walls is covered in chic framed art, described by Marina O’Loughlin of the Guardian as “different-sized paintings and photographs interlocking like some kind of aesthete’s Tetris”.

Located above the restaurant is Berners Tavern’s private dining room; an intimate space seating up to 14. A modern, long dark walnut table with rose upholstered chairs is placed under an original historic skylight with atmospheric lighting.

Custom designed private dining packages are available to suit every occasion and make your experience both personal and memorable. The private dining room is the ideal space for exclusive VIP dining.

The Effective Event Solutions team are big fans of the lunchtime ‘sandwiches’ especially the Lobster and prawn brioche roll! Check out the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner menus!

Summing up our Berners Tavern review we reckon this is a great place for informal lunch meetings or to get creative inspiration from the incredible decor.

Team building cookery classes for real foodies

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Teambuilding cookery classes are seemingly everywhere right now. Your Team Manager might be a culinary novice if you know your way around the kitchen then a ‘how to …’ class could be a total bore.

Catching up with our friends at Hotel Okura in Amsterdam recently, we discovered they have added a new ‘Wagyu Beef’ class to their enticing list of restaurant workshops:

Team building cookery classes: Wagyu Beef

Hotel Okura serves Japanese, Australian, New Zealand and American Wagyu in many forms, all of their carefully created dishes are designed to highlight this incredible meat.

The Masterclass will teach you and your team all about Wagyu; how to prepare the different grades and cuts of the meat, it’s different origins plus what other ingredients and flavours to pair it with.

Chef de Cuisine Louise O’Hare will discuss the theory and offer a practical demonstration, after which you will prepare your own Wagyu beef in the style of Okura’s restaurants. As a team you can then enjoy the different dishes at Taste of Okura’s dining tables.

Team building cookery classes: Sushi

Okura’s sushi chefs will teach you how to cook rice correctly, how to slice fish, and finally how to prepare sushi. Then you can sit down as a group and enjoy the fruits of your labour with a little Japanese Sake to wash it all down! You will also be given recipes to take home and keep practicing your new sushi skills.

Team building cookery classes: Michelin standard

Okura’s two Michelin star restaurant Ciel Bleu will welcome your team to learn fine dining skills with their own chefs. Using the same top quality ingredients and techniques as used in the restaurant’s own menu, you will create a Michelin star worthy three-course meal. The workshop lasts 3.5 – 4 hours including time to sit down and enjoy the stunning meal you have created. Recipes are also available for you to take home.

Team building cookery classes: Teppanyaki

Hotel Okura also houses a renowned Teppanyaki Restaurant; Sazanka, where the chefs will let your group in on the secrets of the teppan; the Japanese griddle. The teppanyaki chefs reveal how you can make a teppanyaki meal at home, even without a griddle or teppan plate. The dinner comprises four courses and the workshop will last 3.5 hours in total, with all recipes provided for you to take home.

These workshops are available for corporate groups of 10-18 people, if you have a larger group then drop us a line on the email below and we’ll suggest some other great Team building classes for you.

If that’s whetted your appetite and you’re interested in booking these classes for your next teambuilding day and/or holding an event in Amsterdam drop up an email at Sales@EffectiveEventSolutions.com

If you’re in Amsterdam and fancy joining a public masterclass then click here for upcoming dates.

Homegrown Produce at London Event Hotels

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Perhaps you yearn for the space (and most likely time!) to nurture a homegrown vegetable patch, or maybe you just appreciate the taste of ultra-fresh produce and local sourcing when you dine out.

Well, Corinthia London’s chefs feel the same, so they’re now growing tomatoes on the Hotel’s rooftop (pictured) and bringing diners a delicious new tomato themed, market stall menu at The Northall restaurant.

If you like the sound of The Northall’s Roast Cornish Lemon Sole, Tomato Jam and Slow Cooked Heritage Tomatoes with Sauce Vierge (trust us it’s mouth-wateringly good!)then check out the full seasonal market menu here.

For those with a sweet tooth you can find ‘homegrown’ (or should we say ‘homeproduced’) honey at both Lancaster London and St Ermin’s Hotel, where bees are thriving in their rooftop hives and producing delectable honey.

Lancaster London also play host the annual London Honey Show, pop over on Monday 6th October and while you’re there pop into the Island Grill to try a Honey Panna Cotta made with their own rooftop honey!

To find out more about St Ermin’s rooftop hives click here.

If you’re looking for catering with locally sourced ingredients or are interested in finding out more about London event hotels, then get in touch with us for a FREE, no obligation chat.

Email us: Sales@EffectiveEventSolutions.com

It’s National Afternoon Tea Week!

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Thanks to the Duchess of Bedford, who in 1840 began requesting tea, bread and cake at 4pm in order to keep hunger at bay until dinner, Afternoon Tea is now a much-loved British tradition.

So much so it now has it’s own week of the year! Celebrating the quintessentially British pursuit of afternoon tea you will find activities, themed menus and plenty of special offers across the UK this week – see what’s happening near you here.

At Effective Event Solutions we have provided many Afternoon Teas over the years; be it a fun afternoon break during a conference or as catering for a prestigious product launch, there are many ways to incorporate this wonderfully British tradition into your events.

If you haven’t yet sampled the delights and delicacies of Afternoon Tea and are not sure if it would work for your next event, then these are a few of our favourite places to try it:

Sketch, London

(Pictured) The home of quirky fine dining; Sketch is on of London’s best Michelin starred restaurants. So it’s no surprise their afternoon tea is absolutely divine – intricate pastries, picture perfect macaroons and sandwich fillings to delight the tastebuds (caviar and quail’s egg for one!), see their menu here.

Bea’s of Bloomsbury, London

This charming little chain of cake eateries currently has three locations in London: Farringdon, Bloomsbury and our favourite St Paul’s (which can be privately hired for up to 36 guests). They also do wonderful take-aways and occassion cakes if you haven’t got time to stop by for their award winning afternoon tea.

The Lowry, Manchester

Situated on the banks of the River Irwell, The Lowry is undoubtedly Manchester’s most fashionable hotel. Recently awarded ‘The Tea Guild special award of Excellence’, you can be sure their afternoon tea is every bit as 5 star as the hotel itself.

Coworth Park, Windsor/Ascot

If the stunning scenery isn’t enough to tempt you to Coworth (set in 240 acres of parkland on the borders of Windsor Great Park), then the afternoon tea surely will; served in the elegant Drawing Room, the experience is quintessentially British in every way.

The Tower, Edinburgh

As the name suggests, this restaurant is perched on top of the tower over the iconic Museum of Scotland, boasting stunning views of the city’s skyline. Best enjoyed in summer time on the outdoor terrace, afternoon tea is served between 3pm-4.30pm.

We can organise private dining afternoon tea at a range of restaurants and cafes nationwide.

An Irish Whiskey Master (and where to drink it)

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The Irish Whiskey Sector is booming right now and our client’s at William Grant & Sons are top of the class with their Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskeys. So today we’re raising a glass in celebration of their achievements at this year’s Irish Whiskey Masters!

Judging this year was; Adam McCullogh, bar manager of The Cadogan Arms, Toby Quirk, freelance brand ambassador, and Charles Montanaro, group manager for 5cc. The panel began with a large flight of Blended Premium whiskeys, where the standout whiskey was William Grant & Sons’ Tullamore DEW 12yo Special Reserve, which was described as “just delightful” and awarded the one and only Master of the round! They scooped a further 2 awards with Tullamore DEW Original and Tullamore DEW Phoenix.

To read more about the Irish Whiskey Masters, check out The Spirit Business’s write up, or to find out more about Tullamore Dew products have a look at their website.

If you fancy sampling Tullamore Dew then here are a couple of our favourite places for a tipple:

Silk’s Bar

Housed in the fresh, modern Grange St Paul’s hotel, this sophisticated cocktail lounge offers an extensive drinks menu alongside sharing platters and light salads.

Benihana

These Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi restaurants view ‘food as an event’, with chefs preparing dishes on a teppan (large hot plate) at each table – head along to their Picadily or Chelsea restaurants and indulge in a world class Tullamore Dew whiskey pre, post or during dinner!

Slug & Lettuce

With 70 bars across the country, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding your ‘local’ with  Tullamore Dew on the menu.

Private Dining rooms for Meat Lovers

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Our focus this week is something for the meat lovers out there – although we promise they all offer some lip-smackingly good veggie options too. Here are our top pick of private dining rooms for meat-eaters:

Smiths of Smithfield / Smiths Spitalfield

An Icon of the East London foodie scene, Smiths now has two restaurants where you can sample their expertly cooked British meats and dishes designed with seasonal produce.

The original restaurant is at the heart of Smithfield market, housed in an impressive grade II listed venue spanning four floors. The 1st floor private dining room here seats up to 14 and has a built in projector and screen for any pre-meal meetings or post feast presentations.

The private loft (pictured) at Spitalfields is the show-stealer though, with space for up to 38 seated or 65 standing this intimate space has all the chic style of the restaurant itself but it’s all yours!

Their carefully sourced British beef is butchered in-house to ensure the absolute best cuts, so for meat lovers looking for a little something extra, we can arrange butchery showcases along with lunch or dinner too.

Tramshed

Part of super-chef Mark Hix’s portfolio, this venue may appear casual with sharing starters, simple chicken options and humongous steaks but the mouth-watering flavours elevate it to a much higher level.

The mezzanine area overlooking the main restaurant seats up to 40 and offers the best views of the iconic Damien Hirst work that takes centre stage here.

Iberica

With four London locations and a new Manchester venue due to open in Autumn this year, Iberica brings the best of Spanish Gastronomy to your table.

As for private dining, there is a rustic mezzanine level at Canary Wharf suitable for up to 30 guests seated (or 50 standing), Marylebone has a similar sized space for dining and an additional area ‘Vino y Artes’ for cocktail parties up to 35 guests, surrounded by some of Spain’s finest wines.

If you fancy trying your hand at one of their most popular dishes here is the recipe and a ‘how-to’ guide filmed at the Canary Wharf restaurant

Hawksmoor

The growing chain, boasts ‘dictionary-thick’ cuts of prime British steak and has a variety of locations; best for groups we like the wood paneled private dining room at Guildhall (seats up to 22 & has it’s own bar too!) or you can hire the rear part of their Spitalfield’s restaurant for private parties of up to 55.