Chef Eats Out: Caractère, Notting Hill, London – book your place!

The husband-and-wife team have combined their love of classic French and Italian cuisine to create an experience that is as special as you would expect from the Roux family.

 

They met while in the kitchen at Alain Ducasse’s three-Michelin-starred Louis XV in Monaco, and, after a stint in Paris, returned to settle in London, with Ferrari joining Le Gavroche while Roux worked in the family’s catering business.

 

Now operating their own restaurant, with Roux front of house while Ferrari heads the kitchen, the pair are gaining critical acclaim, with The Guardian’s Grace Dent explaining that “Caractère, however, is much more of a trip [than Le Gavroche], a place where Ferrari has thrown off the fine-dining shackles” and The Telegraph’s Michael Deacon enthusing that “the food speaks for itself”.

 

The Caterer readers now have a chance to experience Caractère for themselves.
The event will be restricted to 50 lucky diners, who will fill the restaurant to capacity. It will begin at noon with a reception drink and canapés. The four-course lunch, featuring duck from the Himalayan salt chambers of Udale, will be accompanied by paired wines and coffee. The event is expected to finish at 3.30pm.

 

Roux says: “I am thrilled to be able to welcome Chef Eats Out to Caractère. Diego and I have created dishes inspired by the food we ate growing up â€" based on great food well cooked â€" and we’re looking forward to sharing them with fellow chefs in our restaurant.”

 

 

The menu
• Canapés
Prosecco, Spumante, Brut, Treviso DOC, Dal Bello Brut
• Marinated and seared sardines, roast Gem lettuce, beetroot, parsley condiment, black cardamom
• Celeriac “cacio e pepe”
Bourgogne Aligote, Jospeph Drouhin, 2017
• Roast dry-aged duck, glazed potatoes, turnips, duck jus
Justerini & Brooks, 61 Reserve Claret, NV
• Banana tarte tatin, hazelnut praline, the Balvenie Doublewood whisky ice-cream
The Balvenie Doublewood 12 years
• Coffee and petits fours

 

How to book
To book a place at this unique event, at a cost of £65 per person, please go to www.thecaterer.com/chefeatsout.

 

Cancellations can be made without charge up until a week prior to the event, after which all cancellations will be charged at full price.

 

A message from our sponsor

 

Chef Eats Out provides diners with an exclusive opportunity to experience the culinary excellence of outstanding restaurants and chefs. We are delighted that the venue for the next Chef Eats Out event is Caractère in London’s Westbourne Park.

 

Ian Udale, managing director of Udale Speciality Foods, says: “It is interesting to see how innovative chefs like Diego Ferrari are using our meat to create fantastic-tasting dishes. Different meats and poultry are aged for different periods of time in our Himalayan salt chambers â€" for example, beef is normally aged for up to 35 to 40 days â€" but we have a few chefs who like extreme aged beef that’s 100 days-plus.

 

“For Caractère’s roast salt-aged duck, glazed potatoes, turnips and duck jus, Diego will be using ducks that are aged up to 14 days. We find that hanging the ducks in our salt chambers produces a firmer meat with a more intense flavour.

 

“Udale Speciality Foods aims to build an ongoing relationship with chefs by sponsoring Chef Eats Out events as we continue to show our commitment to the hospitality industry.”