Rent-a-Chef described in one paragraph? Your kitchen table is the shining centrepiece of a starred restaurant. Your taste buds get an unprecedented crash course in ‘tasting’. Your eyes will be wide open during this evening. Your tongue works overtime; as does your nose. Your dining companions praise you for choosing this arrangement. And when you fall into bed hours later, satisfied in every way, you have only one intention left: Encore une Fois.
Planning
It is very easy to Rent a Chef for your holiday home. You can book via our Chef page. You then enter the address details, the number of guests, the date and choose from the four types of menus. You can then compose your dinner via various submenus. Prices range from €30 to €100. You will then soon be informed whether all your wishes can be honoured. Our advice: book early!
The preparation
We had already set the table beautifully. In all honesty: that’s all we did ourselves that evening! The chef arrived with a fully loaded car. Literally everything he had brought himself, he didn’t use anything from the house. Our chef came from Bordeaux and had learnt the trade in a 2 Michelin star restaurant and then gone out into the wide world. All the way to Bali. He also had a lot of experience teaching cooking courses.
We start with a glass of wine
He first checked that all the dishes we had ordered were correct. Then he asked if we would like to do a ‘spice and pepper tasting’. Bien sûr! We took a seat at our kitchen bar and asked him all about the foreign spices. Over a glass of wine or 2, of course.
The tasting
Really very special! We tasted many special things. From far and wide; Japanese, Chinese, Thai, European, American….
One we must mention to you: a tasting the size of a grain of salt. It made your tongue tingle and numb for a few minutes. We tasted liquorice, blackberry, lemon, a lot of flavours for the very first time. En passant, we got slicing lessons and were allowed to watch while cooking.
À table!
Then the chef wanted the kitchen to himself. So we had to take our seats. Our old faithful kitchen table had never experienced this before! Our menu was for three (Julie our daughter ate with us).
AMUSE
Pistachio Crusted Fromage Frais + Caramelised Almond Tuile with Pickled Strawberry
STARTER
Lemon & Thyme Calamari
MAIN
Rib Eye Steak & Red Wine Jus, Roasted Carrot & Spiced Maple Puree, Soft Herb Pomme Anna, Crispy Leeks (Julie)
and
Pan-fried Sea Bream & Citrus Tiger Prawns, Sweet Potato & Lime Velouté, Macadamia Dukkah & Petit Pois (Floris and Zsuzsi )
PRE DESSERT
Meringue, Vanilla Chantilly, Passionfruit Yolk & Charred Pineapple Soldiers
DESSERT
Dark Chocolate Delice & Honeycomb, Ginger & White Chocolate Mousse (Floris and Zsuzsi)
of
Vanilla Crème Bruleé & Blueberry Compote, Almond Sable Biscuit (Julie)
The later the evening
It felt like we were in a starred restaurant, but we were just sitting at our own kitchen table. For every dish, he explained in full what it consisted of. The evening flew by. The whole kitchen actually looked tidier than it was before. Finally, he left the house at 11.45pm… It was a very special experience that we will not be forgetting anytime soon.
Summary
You are truly pampered. Your private chef, your private service. We are definitely going to do it again soon. Next time, we will try a different menu. Maybe the various appetisers so we can enjoy this with many friends….
We went to bed with a very big smile on our faces, blissfully eaten and super pampered and with the knowledge that when we come downstairs tomorrow morning, everything will be clean and tidy. Far beyond our expectations; the star restaurant at home. Our advice: Rent a Chef for an unforgettable evening in the Dordogne!
