Celebrity chefs treat financiers at Carpenters’ Hall for FoodCycle
DINERS from the likes of Rothschild Advisors, New Amsterdam Capital and Spayne Lindsay were in for a treat when they showed up at Carpenters’ Hall on London Wall last night, for the FoodCycle Mardi Gras Feast last night.
A champagne reception with canapes by Salt Yard’s Ben Tish was followed by a rather special banquet.
Seven well-known chefs including Giorgio Locatelli (Locanda Locatelli), Claude Bosi (Hibiscus) and Cyrus Todiwala (Cafe Spice Namaste) each cooked a course using surplus ingredients – FoodCycle provides meals for people in need from supermarket surplus. “I’ve used a very special mutton from the furthest Orkney Island – the sheep there only eat seaweed and kelp because the island has no grass – it gives it a very dense texture and gamey taste,” Todiwala told The Capitalist.
So with all those gastronomic egos under one roof, was there healthy competition between the chefs?
“We’re all different but all of the others are prima donnas, I’m the underdog here,” he quipped.
■ “AWARDS are like haemorrhoids – eventually every bum gets one,” actress Maureen Lipman (pictured) told the audience at Pinsent Masons’ alternative pensions awards at its Crown Place HQ yesterday, much to their delight. The awards – dubbed the Mobis – were held in support of Age UK and gongs were awarded in categories such as Most Ingeniously Named Investment Fund (Goldman Sachs’ GS Technology Tollkeeper Fund), Most Creative Use of a Pension (retired police dogs in Nottinghamshire who had their own pots) and Greatest Contribution to Acronyms (HMRC).
■ SO, CAMERON’S been entertaining in his Downing Street flat again – the PM tweeted a photo of himself and Angela Merkel sitting having a causal, unstaged chat yesterday. “I’m happy to welcome Angela Merkel to my Downing St flat, after her excellent address to Parliament,” he cooed. But just like when Michelle Obama popped over for tea in 2011, it’s what’s in the background of the photo that has people talking, rather than the figures on the mustard yellow couch. Observations? Well, the Camerons have a new toaster (yellow, almost certainly Dualit) and matching kettle, and the 24 boxsets are still on the shelves, joined by The Ginger Pig cook book. We wonder if Merkel got to sample some of the trendy butcher’s famous Tamworth pork…