A food tasting event is probably what you’ll experience and I can now tell you what to expect first-hand after being invited along to a recent food tasting evening at the lovely Pelham House in Lewes, East Sussex.
We live in Brighton, so Pelham House is just a 17 minute train ride for us which makes this wedding venue super easy for your guests travelling in from the local area. What awaited was an evening filled to the brim with delicious canapés, lip-smacking cocktails and a 3-course tasting menu.
Now let’s just talk a bit about the canapés because boy were they good! Seated in The Garden Room we tucked right into grilled sirloin, chips and béarnaise sauce, goats cheese spring roll with tomato salsa, deep fried cod brandade, lamb belly with Parmesan and, possibly my favourite, a Shepherd’s pie with creamed and buttered mash. The cocktails on offer were utterly delicious, so much so we had seconds of the ginger-rum based concoction.
As well as tasting all the possibilities for your own wedding feast, I think the loveliest thing about this event was actually seeing the wedding venue come alive as it would at your own wedding. The ‘wedding breakfast’ we experienced was served in The Blencowe Room, a glamorous space with art-deco vibes, and with around 65 people attending it was a pretty good gauge of how the room would look and feel.
It was also a good test of service – seeing the events team deliver at this scale would leave you feeling confident that your wedding day would run smoothly and seamlessly. We were sat on a round table with 4 other couples all getting married next year! It was so gorgeous chatting about their planning and hearing their stories, and whilst we were nattering our food and wine was delivered discreetly.
I ate ravioli of Cornish crab, charred & pickled mackerel fillet, coriander seed & tomato to start, followed by roast rump of lamb and crisp fried sweetbreads, fondant potato, courgette, fennel and slow roasted tomato, black olive tapenade and red wine jus and to finish a selection of desserts including mango and pistachio cheesecake, chocolate, coconut and rum roulade and apple and cinnamon strudel.
Thank you so much to Pelham House for inviting us along, it certainly got us in the festive spirit nice and early! Before we left, we asked the Events Team for some top tips, so if you’re getting ready to experience your own food tasting event at your venue then scribble down the below advice!
Top Tips from Pelham House
- Ensure you try a little bit of everything, there is such a variety of different bespoke dishes that are not included in our menus but you are able to select these options still for your wedding. There are an abundance of cocktails, mocktails and over £6,000 worth of wines to sample and select, sip sip horray!
- Come with prepared questions as the Events Team are all here to answer any of your queries.
- Take inspiration for your own wedding! We will have suppliers displays and entertainment too so you have a range of options and exciting ideas for your own big day. It is quite a unique offering to be able to experience the atmosphere of a wedding day beforehand and bounce ideas off of other couples and how they are personalising the venue too.
- We would highly recommend hopping on the train or pre booking a taxi for the way home so you can relax and enjoy choosing the perfect tipple to accompany your wedding menu.
- This is a more formal occasion so we would love to see our couples take the opportunity to dress up for this luxury tasting event experience.
Venue Pelham House
Photography Fazackarley Photography
Flowers Tony Dunn Flowers
Cake Bonney’s Cakery
Harpist Nicola Veal
Stationery Flutterby Events
Magician Alexander James
Based on a weekday wedding in January.