The House Of Peroni

On Monday, 1st July after 10 months of exciting meetings, extensive inventories and one too many paint samples 41 Portland Place finally opened its doors to the first guests attending the glamorous launch of The House of Peroni.

The House has been created to celebrate all things Italian and is home to an explosion of Italian culture, influential artists, musicians, film makers and designers, offering Londoners a chance to taste exquisite Italian food and a perfectly poured lager in the comfort of their own city.

The menu which is designed by the Michelin-starred Costardi brothers boasts deliciously simple yet creative taste sensations with a twist. Inspired by their upbringing in idyllic Italy the menu is jam packed with the traditional family favourites such as  ‘Tricolore Aranciono’ alongside bespoke signature dishes like the Peroni Nastro Azzurro reduction Risotto. 

The bar menu is the brain child of the Hoxton Pony’s very own mixologist extraordinaire Gerry Calabrese, offering Peroni Nastro Azzurro infused cocktails, traditional Italian soft drinks and of course chilled Peroni.  

The House welcomes all culture vultures to take in the delights of fine Italian influences between 12pm-11pm Monday – Sunday throughout July, so why not drop in and leave inspired...

You can find more information on workshops and event nights at www.thehouseofperoni.com

Academic away days

As much as we love hosting parties, luxury dinners and quirky product launches Ali and I are science geeks at heart. Our core business and most loyal clients are those from scientific and medical affiliated associations and academic institutes. Therefore I was most excited when I was recently approached by a global pharmaceutical company and asked to develop a concept for their approaching annual staff away day. The brief stated the activity needed to be exciting and stimulating yet educational and scientifically relevant. After working through a few ideas such as fantastical food and medical Cluedo the client finally plumped for a back-to-school science class. 

After trawling the internet and the Academy directory of amazing fellows I found a scientist who could demonstrates all of the old school science class favourites as well as a few new quirky experiments you can take home and wow your friends and family with.  

My favourite part was the exploding custard when the presenter used custard powder and a Bunsen burner to create a huge explosion. 
Who would have thought custard power could be so flammable! 

If you would like to treat your employees to your very own away day please do get in contact. We have a whole range of scrumptious menu options and academic activities to inspire and motivate your team!

Magic gas!

Get ready...

Get steady...

GO! GO! GO!

Afternoon tea for free!

If your anything like me and have used up your entire holiday allowance escaping a grey, miserable British spring you will be glaring at your colleagues in envy as they boast about their approaching summer vacation. Luckily for you 41 Portland Place has the perfect excuse to get you out of the office and into holiday mode for a few hours. 

mmmmm...cake!

To launch our new pick ‘n’ mix catering package we are currently running a #TweetAtMe2WinAfternoonTea Twitter competition whereby you and 3 friends can enjoy a 41PP afternoon tea completely free! 

All you need to do is undertake the following steps:

-Follow @41PP on Twitter

-Choose your favourite combination on the below catering package 

-Tweet them to us with the hashtag #TweetAtMe2WinAfternoonTea 

The lucky winner will be announced this Friday via twitter.

As with any competition, there can only be one winner. If you’re not lucky this time fear not, as our £25 + VAT afternoon tea package will be running throughout August so why not give me a call (0203 176 2182) and put something in the diary to look forward to. 

Not that you need any more convincing but here’s a sample menu to whet your appetite:

To whet the palette

- An arrival glass of peach Bellini

- Union Hand Roasted Fairtrade coffee and a selection of classic and herbal teas

- Still and sparkling Vivreau water

Sandwiches

- Roasted rare beef, watercress & horseradish cream

- Smoked salmon & chive cream cheese

- Cucumber and chive infused cream cheese

Sweet things

- Battenberg

- Date, apple & walnut loaf

- Victoria sandwich

- Chocolate cherry brownie

- Selection of fruit jellies with vanilla whipped cream

Homemade scones

- Warm freshly baked plain and raisin scones

- Devonshire clotted cream & England preserves

Terms and conditions

This offer is only valid within the month of August

A surcharge may apply for less than 4 guests

Afternoon tea must be held Monday - Friday

This offer is subject to venue availability and may have to be relocated indoors depending on the weather

Mr & Mrs Hird

On the 4th May 2013 41 Portland Place played host to its first ever wedding and guess what???

It was mine!

Yes I know what you’re thinking, who gets married in their workplace? (and at times I did question mixing work with pleasure) However I soon came to the conclusion that every other venue I looked at just wouldn't match up to the exclusive town house in the heart of Marylebone I spend so much of my time in.

If I’m honest the prospect of having so much flexibility with the planning of every aspect of my wedding was a deal-maker. I’m a control freak and being an events coordinator myself I just don’t think I could have possibly handed this over to anyone else.

From my addiction to Pinterest I already had the majority of my big day planned out on virtual mood boards so all that was left to do was bring my vision to life.
The centre to my wedding décor was the floral table runners which Thierry from The Art of Floristry (our preferred florist at 41PP) beautifully created for me.
Other nic nack’s included a wisdom tree where guests could leave their wise words for a long and successful marriage, and information on our own hashtag (#mrandmrshird) on instagram.

Guests were greeted with a chilled Mojito and an old fashioned sweet stall where they could fill their green and white candy striped paper bags, before making their way out to the sunny Marylebone Terrace. Steve and I were soon whisked away for photographs in Regents Park and upon our return the guests were happily gorging on Harbour & Jones canapés and sipping on frosty Coronas.

At 4pm guests were shown to their seats and the speeches began- this was my favourite part of the day – it was so lovely to hear my loved ones recall memories and pass on their well wishes. By the time the last toast was made our guests were ready to eat. To start there was a choice of garlic infused Portobello mushrooms with crispy Parmesan or Haddock fishcakes with honey and lime dipping sauce. For mains we had a trio of gourmet sausages, creamy mash and parsnip crisps. Then finishing up there was the option of rhubarb three ways or a trio of Eton mess. How very British of us!

Post dinner the wedding party could finally relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and great company.
Come 7pm we kicked off the party with our first dance to ‘let’s get it on’ by Marvin Gaye and cut the cake hand crafted by my wonderful Mum.


They say your wedding day should be the best day of your life and I can safely say it lived up to all my expectations. 

Street.Food.Party

Whilst we pride ourselves in having a beautiful, Grade II* listed building, we couldn’t bear to see another Pimm’s reception followed by a smoked salmon blini! We therefore decided to throw caution to the wind and show our customers the range of alternative delights we have to offer.

With our in house events team Harbour & Jones Events at the forefront of our creativity, our well travelled Head Chef Will Carvalho combined his creations from around the world to create the ultimate street party menu. It was then time to turn our Central London period townhouse into the most fabulous street food fiesta Marylebone has ever seen.

With a carefully selected guest list of VIPs in the events business set to attend I made it my job to make sure the venue was looking it’s most gorgeous. Each room was themed appropriately to get their creative juices flowing - whether this be for a Christmas shindig for 60 or breakfast press briefing for 20.

The pièce de résistance and central hub for the suitably named ‘Street.Food.Party’ showcase was our rooftop terrace overlooking the chimney tops of Marylebone. Being perhaps a little too optimistic and in the hope of getting ahead of the crowd for the competitive summer party business, yes we did host this in March and yes it did snow! But with the weather ignored, our guests feasted on a selection of mac and cheese fritters, sticky barbeque ribs, hot chicken wings and melt in your mouth slow cooked 8-hour pulled pork all perfectly finished off with a sparkling Mojito. 

The showcase was a wonderful opportunity to meet so many of our lovely clients and to finally put a face to a name. On that subject we still have some rum left...anyone for a show around with a Mojito on the Terrace? 

The Council Chamber set for dinner  

The VERY chilly Marylebone Terrace...Brrrrrr!

Peroni anyone?

Will's famous 41PP truffles

Jerk Chicken