We’ve launched in Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire!

Well we certainly celebrated the launch of the award-winning Grub Club into Bedfordshire Hertfordshire in style! With almost 30 people attending the inaugural event in the area, we were delighted to coincide with the half-year anniversary of the fabulous new bistro restaurant, The Arbury in Baldock. As always we had a very warm welcome from our excellent hosts Martin, Lucy and Josh.

It’s always a little daunting launching a new venture, so it was so great to see some friendly faces and meet lots of new people in the industry. The atmosphere was electric as conversation buzzed and new connections were made, alongside a good dose of fun!

Starting with Fizz

The evening got off to a fine start with a delightful French fizz courtesy of Hertford based Wine2Trade – a fantastic supplier to local independent pubs and restaurants. Whilst we quaffed on J.Laurens Blanquette de Limoux ‘Le Moulin’ NV, we learnt that it is regarded as the oldest sparkling wine in the world, appearing about 150 years before champagne. Records show that Benedictine monks at the Saint Hilaire Abbey in Limoux were producing this wine as far back as the 1530s, and made in the same way as Champagne. Thanks to James for an informative talk – we won’t mention all of the trade secrets he shared with us!

A Delicious 2-course Meal

The Arbury team served up a scrumptious 2-course meal for our first Grub Club Bedfordshire Hertfordshire event, which of course included their legendary cheese soufflé. We were totally in awe how talented Chef Martin can serve almost 20 perfectly formed dishes at once! The lamb and chorizo braised beans was certainly a hit in the room too and the tasty dessert of chocolate brownies was supplied by the delicious Cakehead team.

Guest Speaker: Chilli Olly

Chilli Olly took to the floor with his tales of all things chilli; what he doesn’t know about this astonishing fruit is really not worth knowing! As a trained chef, Olly works with various companies across the UK concocting new sauce concepts and brands and is famous for launching new products at a rate many of us could only dream of.

After learning about the intricacies of the Scotch Bonnet – a variety of chilli pepper named for its resemblance to a tam o’ shanter hat, two lucky guests got to sample the increasing intensity of the skin, flesh and pith of this fiery fruit as it was expertly dissected by Olly.

This was followed by a taste sensation of some of his award-winning products, such as the Chilli Pepper Perrett Bedford Banger Hot Sauce – perfect served with poached eggs or drizzled on meats. Next up was the fiery Nutty Professor Peanut Butter Extreme, Salted Caramel Nut Butter (you guessed it, with a chilli kick!) and Bonnet Berry Burst – a delightfully fruity number which works incredibly well with cheese. Who knew that you can pair chilli with everything!

Huge thanks to everyone for making the event such a success, and to those who contributed to the legendary Grub Club goodie bags:
Chilli Olly
Rhubarb and Mustard
Not Just Travel / Alexander Travel

Special thanks to Sean @seanwphotography and Steven @stevendayphotography for capturing the events of the evening.

Fiona