Entertainment

Alfred Tennyson National Poetry Day Review

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To celebrate National Poetry Day, The Alfred Tennyson launched their new winter craft series over a three-course dinner. To celebrate, the renowned poet Eley Williams read pieces of her work between each dinner course. 

For £49pp, each guest enjoyed a welcome drink, a three course meal, and some delightful readings from a charismatic and amiable young poet.

Myself and three friends each enjoyed different choices from the wide-ranging menu. For our starters, we collectively sampled a beautifully decorated artisan scotch egg, a roasted broccoli dish and a cured chalk stream trout with beetroot and hay mayonnaise. Overall the starters were punchy, with distinct flavours that complemented each other well, we were excited to see what the mains would bring!

Onto mains, and it was slightly more hit and miss, we sampled the baked squash, the sea bass on a bed of spinach and the Castlemead chicken with celeriac. Of all the mains, the sea bass definitely won. It was crispy and delicate and we were definitely left wanting more. Unfortunately, the chicken was a little overcooked, which affected the whole dish and meant it didn’t quite blend. However, by normal standards the food was great – we were just expecting something which matched the standards of the starters.

 Desserts were delicious, we had a mixture of apple pies and chocolate and orange torts, all were delicious and rounded the meal off perfectly.

Probably the best bit of the evening was the overall curation of the event, the poetry was not overbearing but blended in delightfully with the meal. While a poetry and dinner event could maybe feel quite stuffy, this felt informal and relaxing for everyone – guests even got to chat to Eley herself. 

Finally the service was great, the atmosphere was lovely and the lighting was flattering – what more could you want?!

Website: www.thealfredtennyson.co.uk

Written by Sophie Perry