So as part of the superb Belfast Restaurant Week I was invited as a guest to The Mad Hatter's Dinner Party - Hosted by the Malone Lodge Hotel
I was met at the entrance by none other than...The Mad Hatter himself who excitedly invited me into the party! I was led through a narrow corridor symbolising Alice's journey/fall down the rabbit hole, but on a smaller scale - a modern twist lets call it! I liked this touch - there were oversized flowers and lots of candles which added to the theme!
An invite on the door was more than enough to tell me that I was on the right path, I entered and was met by Alice and the White Rabbit who led me to my seat - so far so good - a food adventure was about to begin...
As I looked around the room I was desperate to see a long table set up, with room for all guests but unfortunately the room was set up in an ordinary restaurant form - this meant that the evening felt more like an intimate meal for two rather than a party! I must add though - it was a lovely, and a very romantic setting with beautiful candelabras to set the scene
I am pleased to announce though that this was changed for the final night and all the tables were pushed together to create a party atmosphere - a great idea as this would allow for more engagement, story telling and food sharing!
The room itself was themed throughout, our menu was a giant card (very cool), the staff were in costume, there were masks to wear and the use of fairy lights and bunting created a cosy and fun space!
The food
So we were in for a treat - 5 courses which made use of some very extravagant ingredients including lobster and quails egg. A really nice touch was that each course had a theme relating to Alice in Wonderland. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - my two favs were the main - peppered pork belly and the dessert was out of this world - blueberry jam and pistachio tart topped with cherry ice cream and white chocolate snow!
We were also entertained throughout the night by a magician! He performed table magic and a small show at the end of the meal, a nice way to end the night.
Overall a good night - I would have loved more interaction with the characters and more of a party set up, but what this did do though, especially with the white chocolate snow and fairy lights, was get me thinking about the Malone Lodge's Christmas event - I was unaware that they did these themed nights and I would definitely like to try another - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would be amazing!
