Food, glorious food!

The H2B loves Persian food. The first thing we agreed on was that we would have Persian food at the wedding and lots of it. This was quite lucky as I had my heart set on serving Persian food to our guests. It was not something I was willing to compromise on.

So, first decision made was pretty easy. Surely this wedding organising would be a piece of cake? WRONG!

Problem 1: Most of the lovely venues out there have their own caterers, the majority of them don't do Persian food.

Problem 2: If they do Persian food, it would most likely be served in small portions at something extortionate like £60 - £100 +VAT per head. I am sure the food these caters cook is delicious but if you don't cook Persian food day in day out then it just isn't the same. It's hard to get some of the khoroshts (stews) right and I have been to lots of Persian restaurants in London where I haven't always been happy with the stews.

Problem 3: If you can find a venue with external caterers you get charged an arm and a leg for the pleasure of using caterers you have sourced yourself.

Problem 4: If you decided problem 3 is easier to bear that problems 1 and 2 then you have to try and find a reliable caterer who does first rate food for a reasonable price and has a public liability certificate.

We found the perfect venue who allow external caterers yipee! The fee for having external catering at the venue is quite steep (£1,500) but it's a gorgeous venue that ticks all the boxes so we will make do.

I have been to see three caters so far. One caterer quoted £18 per head. The other two quoted £30 per head for the same food. All offered varying degrees of service.

I am planning on seeing a few more and will post a list of quotes/service details once I have done the rounds.

In the meantime, this is what I planning for the menu:

Starters:

salad olivieh (potato chicken salad YUM)
mast o moosir (yoghurt with wild shalloty things)
sabzi paneer (side herbs and cheese for cleansing the system)
khashk e badejan (aubergine with a dried yoghurt thing called kashk)
mirzeh ghasemi (smoked aubergine with tomato, a shed load of garlic and egg YUUUUUUUM)
lavash (flat bread)

Mains:

Koobideh (minced kebab)
Jujeh kabab (chicken kebab marinaded in saffron and lemon juice)
Fesejan with chicken (pomegranate and walnut stew)
Ghormeh sabzi with lamb (herb stew with dried limes aaaaaaarhghghgh YUM)
zereshk polo va morgh (rice with barbaries and saffron chicken)
okra stew (vegetarian)
polo (rice for the other stuff)

Dessert:

akbar mashti (traditional saffron and rosewater ice cream with pistachio nuts and thick chunks of cream - trust me it's good)
wedding cake

and a big table piled with fruit for guests to pick at throughout the day.

I did initially want the food to be served in sharing platters for each table but I think a buffet would be more practical. It would also look quite impressive with all the food piled high and guests would be able to have a bit of whatever they want and as much of it as they want. I want them to be able to take food away with them if they want to minimise wastage.

This *may* be quite a lot of food so I may have to rethink the menu once I find a caterer.

Do you know of any good Persian caterers in London? If so, please let me know!