Rare specimens on show at experiential Natural History dinner

Leading event caterers “rhubarb” hosted an experiential and delicious networking evening with Heston Blumenthal for key industry event management companies and party planners, exclusively taking place amongst the rare specimens of the Spirit Collection at the Natural History Museum.

“rhubarb” lived up to its creative reputation devising a menu inspired by the tanks rooms of the Natural History Museum, an area closed off to the public.

Guests were seated amongst part of the unique Spirit collection and enjoyed Heston’s inspirational talks before being given guided tours of the tank rooms, located in the Darwin Centre. This contains 27 kilometres of tanks and shelves including hidden treasures such as the giant squid and specimens collected by Charles Darwin.

The theming for the evening complemented the quirky settings within the venue including a clinical reception in the Darwin Centre featuring stark white cocktails prepared by the GINLABTM in conjunction with Sipsmith and presented in laboratory glassware and garnished with fruit crystal in petri dishes. For the dining experience, the Spirit collection was furnished with one long mirror table lined with an eclectic mix of geometrical glassware displaying carnivorous plants in shades of hot pink and lime. Oversized test tubes were suspended over guests’ heads with hanging amaranthus and pops of neon along the length of the table.

Support for last night’s event came from numerous suppliers who all lived up to ”rhubarb’s” high standards. Banana Split was responsible for the brilliant production and lighting; Mary Jane Vaughn handled and displayed the floristry; Great Hire supplied furniture and The Gin Garden offered a range of flavoursome cocktails.

Glen Sutton, director of events, from “rhubarb” commented:

“We have been an accredited caterer for the Natural History Museum for more than 15 years, so naturally we know the museum’s unusual venue spaces. When we decided to host a high level exclusive dining event, we were looking for a space that could give us inspiration for the menu; the Darwin Centre within the museum was our first choice.”

Simon Kershaw, head of events and catering at Natural History Museum explained:

“This was a fantastic event to have been a part of, with the setting and the theming dramatically contradicting the image that many people might have of the museum. The Darwin Centre is our newest space which presents a blank canvas for organisers, perfectly utilised by “rhubarb” and its team.”