Prep the most talked-about table

Bespoke catering for intimate gatherings focuses on clean eating, restaurant-style dining and a touch of drama for an unforgettable experience

- Abhilasha Ojha

Bring together your loved ones in a house party, and do it in style by bookmarking the season's hottest food trends. Curate an experience that makes each guest feel special.

1. BRING THE RESTAURANT HOME

At many house parties, you can find food that matches menus at upscale restaurants in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, alongside the look and feel of the restaurant itself. "We (literally) recreate our iconic restaurants, getting our guests to have the finest dining experience in an intimate setting," says Sudhir Barabari, general manager of Soulinaire, the four-year-old catering arm of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd (IHCL). During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, they began organising exclusive breakfast buffets in farmhouses. This turned into a viable business in the National Capital Region (NCR), Punjab and Rajasthan. In November, Soulinaire will launch in Ahmedabad with an all-vegetarian and vegan menu. The food is served in an enviable collection of Villeroy & Boch and Noritake dinnerware. It's not unusual for them to fly a seasoned chef from Hyderabad to Ludhiana to cook the very flavourful Hyderabadi biryani at the venue. Recently, for a birthday party, they recreated a five-course meal that's served in Varq, the iconic Indian restaurant at the Taj Mahal, Delhi, with décor elements contributing to the look and feel of the experience. At another house party, guests enjoyed 45 signature dishes from IHCL restaurants, such as Machan, House of Ming, and Varq.

Chef Manu Chandra's Single Thread, a luxury bespoke catering company launched last year, is known for innovative menus. Goat cheese-stuffed ram laddoos, rhododendron martinis, bathua-spinach-feta-mustard oil green dip, and croissant dough kachoris are just some of the dishes making it to people's homes.