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Tuesday 4 January 2011

2010 Bloggers Christmas Lunch at The Ship Wandsworth


Just a few days before Christmas, London was completely snowed under, but 49 food bloggers and their friends braved the weather and horrific travel disruption to descend upon The Ship in Wandsworth for #bloggersxmaslunch 2010.


It was great fun organising this event with Gail of One Million Goldstars and Oisin Rogers, The Ship's manager. The Ship is on the bank of the Thames next to Wandsworth Bridge, and only a few minutes walk from either Wandsworth Town Rail or Clapham Junction stations.

A year-round location, The Ship has a large area of outdoor seating besides the Thames which must be fantastic in the summer months. During winter, the spacious conservatory is a warm and welcoming dining area, ideal for lazy Sunday lunches such as this.


The excellent menu was specially put together for us by Oisin, and its variety and quality appeared to win over the 49 diners. In addition to the delicious food, Bloody Marys were served on arrival as well as pints of beer.


Some of the lovely dishes served on the day included:

"Mini Crab Cake with Quail Eggs and Hollandaise Sauce" as an amuse bouche.

"Treacle Cured Organic Salmon, Pickled Beetroot, Butternut Squash Purée and Avruga"

"Foie Gras Terrine with Pistachio, Pear and Apple Chutney, Celery Salt and Toasted Brioche"

"Poached Ham Hock Pressed with Roast Shallots, Bury Black Pudding, Celeriac Remoulade and Spiced Kumquats"

"Roast Butternut Squash Soup, Goat’s Cheese Tortellini, White Truffle Oil" and "Roast Haunch of Venison, Herb Crust, Red Wine Risotto, Shallot Puree, Thyme Sauce"

"Honey Glazed Duck Breast, Pasty of Confit Leg, Creamed Spinach, Root Vegetable Fondants, Port Jus"

"Sautéed Turbot Supreme with Celeriac and Turnip Boulangère, Truffled Sabayon, Red Wine Reduction" and "Roast Rump of Beef with Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, Cauliflower Cheese and Swede Mash"

"Homemade Christmas Pudding, Prune and Armagnac Ice Cream" and "Sticky Toffee Pudding, Vanilla Ice Cream"

"Apple and Prune Crumble, Liquorice Ice Cream"

Wines were matched to each course and included an 09 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc by Mission Estate Winery, an 09 Beaujolais-Villages by Chateau du Chatelard and a fantastic 04 Rioja Reserva by Coto de Imaz.


It was a great event for meeting the many people behind the food blogs I read or whom I follow on Twitter. I would like to thank everyone for coming along despite the blizzard, and Oisin and Emma from The Ship. From my first contact many weeks ago to our fond farewell on the day, they worked incredibly hard to give us the best time and make the event a spectacular success.

You can read other reviews of this event at From Chopsticks 2 Steaknives, Miss Immy's London, Cooksister, One Million Goldstars,  and Fernandez and Leluu .

The Ship on Urbanspoon

13 comments:

  1. wow that is food served out of a pub! I missed out didn't I. Looks like a fun lunch. So good of you and Gail to organise everything. I hear you weren't in bad company as Druv Baker was having drinks there that day as well.x

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  2. It was a great event, thank you so much to yourself and Gail for organising and to Oisin, Emma and everyone else at The Ship for looking after us so very well!

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  3. Hands down one of the highlights for me in 2010! =)
    and let's continue the good times in 2011....xx

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  4. Thanks again for organising Luiz! it was so much fun and I hope we can do something similar soon. Happy 2011 xx

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  5. That all looks magnificent!

    I so wish I'd been there - to see everyone and not just for the food :)

    Well done to you, Gail and Osh for organising such an amazing day - do it again please and soon!

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  6. Wow - that food looks sensational. I'm sorry I missed it, but congrats on organising such a great day.

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  7. It was a great day - you and Gail did such a good job organising, the smoothness of the day is a tribute to your eventing skills.

    The food was great, the venison being a highlight for me. Wines were generous and well matched, the service spot on. It was one of my blogging highlights of the year and a great way to finish off 2010.

    Still wondering quite how we managed to fit in Turkish afterwards as well...

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  8. Luiz this sounds like such a brilliant afternoon and the food looks fantastic. Sorry to miss out on it!

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  9. Oh this looks like it was a fantastic afternoon. How I wish I could have joined you guys!!

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  10. Luis, thanks for this very fine post and great photos. We're so glad you enjoyed your afternoon. It was a great day for The Ship too. We are delighted that so many of you came to see us. How about doing another one just before the Summer?

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  11. That picture of me is priceless - what on earth was I saying?? Twas a pleasure to organise this - I think we might have some takers for future events, from the sounds of things? ;-)

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  12. Fantastic post, thank you so much for the reminder of the wonderful food and company. The Ship is a great venue, it is indeed hard to believe such amazing food comes out of somewhere that looks like an ordinary pub rather than one of these gastro pub places. I deliberately didn't take many pictures that afternoon as I was so spaced out at the time so I've really enjoyed reading this. Roll on the next get together!

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