The Birthday Dinner

My Dad decided he didn't want a party or any big celebration for his 80th birthday. Dear Mum had a brain wave and arranged for a chef they know from some cooking classes, Peter Blakeway, to come in and cook dinner for us.



The food was delicious - Dad wanted the food to be a suprise for him so Mum and I chose from a sample menu and we got it right! We started with Salmon Gravadlax with Toasted Brioche. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the finished plates but here they are partway through assembly.


The main was Breast of Waikato Duck with Prunes and a Chocolate and Game sauce. Here are our plates partly assembled ....



And here they are fully assembled:

We finished with a Classic Lemon Tart with Berry Coulis and Lemon Posset. The tart had a wonderfully tart and fresh flavour.


Dear Dad thoroughly enjoyed it all and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. Chef Peter is a great guy who happily shared his knowledge and answered many questions from me as he cooked. He cleaned everything up and loaded all our plates into the dishwasher. He couldn't wash the wine glasses as we were still using them!