The Great Coast-to-Coast Charity Dinner, which took place at the Cornwall Hotel Collection’s The Alverton, in the heart of Truro, on Thursday evening, raised a spectacular £16,000 for industry charity Hospitality Action.
The inaugural event saw more than a dozen leading chefs from all corners of Cornwall come together to cook a gastronomic, five-course dinner celebrating some of the county’s finest ingredients and products for 120 guests.
Hospitality Action aims to support or assist anyone who works or has worked in the hospitality industry in the UK and has fallen on hard times – be it financial, physical, or mental. In short, it is a helping hand when help is needed.
In a true celebration of everything Cornwall’s coastline has to offer, some of the county’s most high-profile chefs took over The Alverton’s kitchen for the evening of Thursday, 27 February. Visiting chefs included many stars of BBC Two’s Great British Menu – Kota and Kota Kai’s Jude Kereama, who created the concept for the night, The Sardine Factory’s Ben Palmer, Chris Eden, who recently took up the reins in the kitchen at the Watergate Bay, 2018’s South West Chef of the Year Tim Kendall, and Cornwall Hotel Collection’s very own Executive Chef Nick Hodges.
The chefs served their magnificent dinner in the hotel’s historic Great Hall, a room that dates back to 1830. The meal highlighted the very best seafood, grass-fed meats and harvest available across the Duchy in a culinary experience that delighted all its guests. The menu was accompanied by an alcoholic pairing carefully tailored to each dish.
Ben Young, managing director of the Cornwall Hotel Collection, which owns The Alverton, and an ambassador for Hospitality Action, commented: “What an incredible evening raising much-needed funds for Hospitality Action, a charity close to all our hearts, and it was such a unique opportunity to host so many of the Duchy’s finest chefs in our kitchen here at The Alverton. We are grateful to everyone who supported – in the dining room and back of house – as well as all the fantastic suppliers and industry colleagues who donated ingredients, products, and prizes to help us reach our target.”
Jude Kereama, chef-proprietor of Kota and Kota Kai in Porthleven, who is also an ambassador for Hospitality Action and the architect of the dinner, added: “We all loved working together to support Hospitality Action, a charity that means so much to all of us. The atmosphere in the kitchen was electric and we’re absolutely thrilled that our guests had such a sensational time raising £16,000 for the charity. It will make a huge difference, and I hope this dinner will be the first of many to be staged the south-west.”
