Flavour, Colour, Texture
For almost 40 years, By Word of Mouth has placed flavour at the heart of its food philosophy. In this blog, we take a peek into the menu design process, for which each season presents an opportunity to weave flavour, colour and texture into dishes with the aim of creating an unforgettable, ingredient-led experience for our clients and their guests.
Produce and Provenance
Everything starts with great produce and Executive Head Chef Mark Connolly has built up strong working relationships with producers and suppliers for whom quality, sustainability and traceability are key values. As well as providing By Word of Mouth with exceptional ingredients, our suppliers are brilliantly informed, advising on sustainability and provenance, alerting us to new ingredients and providing the foundations on which our menus are built. Be it the rich, oak smoke of the salmon from The Weald Smokery in Kent, the fresh, gently acidic creaminess of Rosary Goat’s Cheese, made on the farm in Wiltshire, or heritage vegetables grown organically in Lancashire, our menus are written around artisan ingredients that are truly best in class.
Style, Creativity and Fun
As well as creating bespoke menus for special celebrations and themed events, our menu design team crafts the seasonal menus that are offered each Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. Each season offers numerous opportunities for style, creativity and playfulness, which are integral to our approach. This autumn, the french classic, Poulet Chasseur, has inspired the tastiest canape, rich with tarragon, paired with chestnut mushroom and bacon lardons, sitting on a dainty potato rosti, whilst the 2022 summer season was all about The Swan, an elegant sweet treat, constructed from white sugar meringue, Chantilly cream, white chocolate and English strawberry compote, presented swimming on its own miniature lake. Throughout our menus, classic dishes are treated with a modern touch, whilst food bars allow clients to enjoy a wide variety of globally inspired dishes such as hand rolled sushi, specialist pasta, Hawaiian poke and even an edible orchard filled with themed patisseries.
Painstakingly Crafted Menus
Behind the creativity, important questions are asked of our menus: Do our dishes eat well with champagne and wine (our planners all hold a minimum of WSET Level 2 and can recommend wines to pair with our menus)? Is the balance there in terms of fish, vegetarian, plant-based and meat? Is a breadth of cuisines, ingredients and culinary techniques represented throughout the menus? Do the words entice the reader whilst championing the ingredients? These are important details that are always addressed before a new season’s menu is released and the team will carry on tweaking as necessary in the name of excellence. Central to the menu sign-off process are our greatly anticipated company tasting sessions, at which the new menus are presented to the team. These open forum sessions are invaluable in empowering and informing the BWoM team, as well as giving them the chance to provide valuable (and always enthusiastic) feedback.
Menus that Give Back
By Word of Mouth came up with a unique initiative a couple of years ago that enables its clients to support food surplus charity, City Harvest London, as part of their event menu. Two No Waste Canapes were created by our menu designers, made using offcuts and trimmings in the kitchens and By Word of Mouth makes a donation to the charity every time they are selected. The No Waste Burger and Tomato Zero have been enthusiastically received by clients and venue partners alike, representing By Word of Mouth’s commitment to social responsibility whilst supporting City Harvest’s magnificent work redistributing surplus food to over 350 charitable projects across London.
Exquisite Food for Elegant Events
Behind the exquisite food that is served at the UK’s most elegant events, lies a team that is working hard to develop new ideas, champion the finest produce, bring themes to life, and demonstrate the great skills of our chefs, whilst never losing sight of By Word of Mouth’s core commitment to flavour. If you would like to receive a copy of our current season’s menus, or to find how more about all the services we offer, please get in touch via our Contact Page.