Summer party masterclass at Claridges, 21st May

To celebrate my mother's birthday, I took her to a summer party masterclass at Claridges. We arrived at 11.30 and were shown into the Fumoir Bar, which I didn't know existed! It's a very small bar in the middle of the building, with black and white pictures of glamorous women smoking while wearing big hats. Here we had coffee and pastries and met the other people on the class. There were only six of us, all women. I can't say I was surprised by that, as the masterclass was billed as answering questions along the lines of "What are THE season's canapes of choice?"

After some chitchat, Michael the extremely smooth food and beverage manager took us down to the kitchens in the basement and into a room which apparently is normally where they keep/carve the meat! A table had been laid out with six director-style stools round it. Here we were introduced to Martyn Nail, the executive chef.

I'd been under the impression that Gordon Ramsay ran the restaurant at Claridges so wasn't quite clear where Martyn fit into the system but it turned out that Ramsay's restaurant is completely separate from the hotel kitchen. For the hotel, they have 55 people working in the kitchen, but not all at once. They were mainly hidden from view in different rooms, but the atmosphere seemed very calm and there wasn't any shouting, although there was the occasional bang or crash!

Martyn showed us how to make a range of canapes:

• peppered goats cheese with raspberry and pine nut
• blinis with smoked salmon and chives
• asparagus with blue cheese on a walnut biscuit
• cherry tomatoes with crab, on a little swirly pastry disc
• tuna sashimi with ginger and coriander
• scallops wrapped in pancetta with tomato compote
• lamb kebab with pea puree

He was very down-to-earth and and the atmosphere was informal so we felt we could ask him anything. There was a lot of discussion about where we could get some of the ingredients, where he got his ideas from (Waitrose!), and what it was like working in the hotel where they put on many events including film premieres. They had three weddings in the hotel that afternoon and apparently the brides were all arriving at the same time! I was impressed by the logistics and it was a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight.

There was real attention to detail in the canapes, e.g. with pea shoots being used as a garnish, because they are very pretty, and raspberries being cut into quarters. I don't think I've ever halved a raspberry let alone quartered one! We watched in awe, and also with a twinge of jealousy as all his ingredients had been prepared and put in little plastic tubs beforehand by more junior chefs.

The cooking demo went on for about an hour and a half and then we were taken back upstairs to the Fumoir Bar where two charming and lively young men - one the head bartender of the main Claridges Bar, and one the head bartender of the Fumoir Bar - did a double act where they made cocktails while we sat around the bar and drank them and ate the canapes which were brought up from the kitchen. The cocktails included:

• a bellini
• a variation on the bellini involving strawberries and creme de cassis
• Pimm's
• Pimm's Royale
• a mojito
• a pear and passionfruit variation on the mojito, which we loved
• a gin fizz
• a ruby fizz, made with sloe gin and grenadine

By this stage we were fairly merry so we didn't actually drink everything that was going. Unbelievable, I know... Eventually at about 4.00 we poured ourselves into a taxi and went to meet my father for a welcome coffee at the Wellcome Collection. We were given goody bags containing an apron and a jar of jam, and earlier on we'd been given a booklet containing all the recipes.

The whole thing was a fantastic and exclusive experience and we felt very pampered and looked after throughout. At £165 a pop it wasn't cheap but it was a wonderful way to spend a day. Most importantly I think Mum enjoyed it! What on earth will I give her next year?