On Thursday 23 October, over 200 industry insiders including PWC, Barclays, Blackrock, Incisive Media, Melon Events and Grant Thornton were welcomed to Prince Philip House for the venue’s second birthday, to celebrate the perfect combination of classic and contemporary represented by the building’s elegant Grade 1 listed façade and its state-of-the-art modern interior. With this in mind, the Prince Philip House team had organised a night of interactive food, exploring the themes of ‘old and new’ and ‘sweet and savoury’. Old and modern cooking techniques rubbed shoulders as ancient dishes were updated with contemporary twists.
Guests were welcomed with alcoholic iced teas and canapés and invited to wander among the interactive food stalls. The Indian stall commemorated the first ever Indian restaurant to open in London back in the 1800s, the same era in which Carlton House Terrace was built, and served ‘London meets Delhi’ street food with delicious filled chapatis and Scotch bhajis.
Doughnut recipes first appeared in 1803, but the Prince Philip House chefs elevated this humble bun to new levels with savoury fillings and spiced savoury sugars. Crab mousse with chilli and lemon sugar, braised oxtail with paprika sugar and ricotta cheese with cinnamon sugar were all on offer as the doughnuts were assembled in front of the delighted guests.
To fit with the savoury and sweet theme, a popcorn challenge tested even the most confident of taste buds. Party-goers were invited to match the flavours to numbers on a card, with a bonus point for anyone who could guess the mystery flavour.
Creative technology agency, Luma, had installed a YrWall digital graffiti wall so that people could unleash their inner artist and then print off the results as a memento of the evening. Guests also downloaded the Prince Philip House app, created by Appsolutely Mobile, prior to the event in order to post messages and images via the event wall, which were then projected live on to plasma screens around the venue. The PPH app is available as an event organiser’s tool for any event held in the building.
The showstopper, as the evening drew to a close, was a gigantic plate of puddings which took pride of place in the Velvet Living designed Al Qasimi room as guests were handed forks and encouraged to dive in. Needless to say, the pudding was a fabulous mix of techniques and flavours, perfectly representing the evening’s ode to ancient and modern.
Rupert Outram, General Manager at Prince Philip House, said, “We couldn’t have hoped for a better evening. It was rewarding to see how much our guests enjoyed the whole experience. Prince Philip House is the perfect setting for fun evening events like this, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming more guests to the venue.”
All of the food, theming and surprises from the night are available to event bookers at Prince Philip House. To find out more, contact the team [email protected]