Whether you’re planning cocktails and hors d’oeuvres or a proper sit-down dinner, food is a crucial element of a stand-out party. Cooking the food yourself is certainly an option for keen home chefs, but hosts who would rather outsource should consider going with a full-service caterer to set up a raw bar or prime rib stations. For a seated meal, consider hiring a private chef who can finely tailor a menu to match your overall vision.
Serve a restaurant-worthy menu
Hiring a private chef to create a bespoke menu brings a sense of exclusivity and quality into a home-based dinner party. Darnell Japp, the talent behind Chef’d Catering & Chef Services, is the former executive chef at both Avec Bistro and Rouge Restaurant. For a more traditional multi-course holiday menu, Japp leans towards tried-and-true luxury ingredients like quail, pheasant and chateaubriand. His modern menu would more closely mirror the type of highly creative dishes usually seen in top-tier restaurants, with Asian-inspired flavours, seared wagyu and pickled vegetables.
Holiday dinner party menus by Chef Darnell Japp
Old-school fancy
Caviar, crème fraîche, blini, chives
Duck and chestnut terrine, morels, Cumberland sauce
Pike quenelle, lobster sauce, dill
Grilled quail, frisée, lardon, roasted squash, Sherry vinaigrette
Pheasant Ballontine, brioche and foie gras stuffing, sauce chasseur, fondant potato, root-vegetable gratin
Chateaubriand, aligot potato, Bordelaise sauce
Peach Melba, raspberry sauce, vanilla ice cream
Christmas pudding, brandy-toffee sauce
New-school fancy
Seared ahi tuna, ponzu, chili, toasted sesame, tobiko, tapioca crisp
Smoked veal tartare, black-garlic aioli, pickled chanterelle, crostini
Side-stripe shrimp ceviche, citrus and rhubarb, puffed quinoa, lemon verbena oil
Salmon mi-cuit, pickled shallot, buttermilk, tarragon oil, squid-ink tuile
Dry-aged duck, caramelized cabbage, honeycrisp apple and brown-butter gastrique
Seared A5 wagyu, porcini espuma, truffle agria potato croquette
Yuzu entremet, haskap berry crémeux, white-chocolate mousse, passionfruit glaze
Dark-chocolate soufflé, white tea crème anglaise, elderflower, strawberry powder