Aldi Festive Feast With Jean Christophe Novelli and Great John Street Hotel

There I was. Sat minding my own business on a lunch break at work and I noticed an email flashing on my phone. Idly I had a look and then had to explain to my colleagues why I had squealed with excitement. Aldi had just invited me to their festive feast at the Great John Street Hotel with the multi Michelin starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli cooking. Would I like to go? Hell yeah!

Super excited we took our seats in the beautiful Great John Street hotel bar that had been turned into a restaurant for the evening. With poinsettia table decorations and fairy lights surrounding us I was finally getting into the festive mood.

The first course arrived looking beautiful. Meli melo tomatoes, minute sun dried vine tomatoes served with king prawn and specially selected caviar points. I’m not a huge fan of tomato but these were so fresh and juicy. The sun dried tomato added a different texture to the dish and brought it all together. A fabulous start.

At this point we were also served a choice of Aldi exquisite collection cotes du rhone villages plan de dieu or Aldi exquisite collection clare valley reisling 2014. The latter being one of my favourite whites I opted for that. I was delighted to hear it costs just £6.99 in store and, trust me, I’ll be stocking up for my Christmas lunch. It is drier than my usual choice yet has a lovely sharp apple taste on the palate finishing with some fresh citrus notes. Just beautiful.

Onto the main course and we were served turkey wellington with garlic, parsnip and sweet turnip mashed potato and stuffed cabbage. The turkey was juicy – not at all like the stereotypical dry Christmas turkey people have come to dread. I don’t like mushroom so I picked around the pastry so as to avoid that! The mashed potato was creamy and smooth – it seems the perfect way to get children to eat their vegetables on Christmas day with the garlic kick giving it a unique flavour which shouldn’t really have worked with the turkey but did. The stuffed cabbage was a delight containing potato and other chunky vegetables. My Mum always cooks us Christmas dinner and had been moaning at the price of her usual turkey from Marks & Spencer. I’ve sent her to Aldi… seriously. I just hope she can make me stuffed cabbage like JC did.

Onto dessert and it wouldn’t be a Christmas meal without pudding. This one was Aldi specially selected 12 month matured Christmas pudding with specialy selected Cornish clotted cream. The pudding was so packed with fruit and glace cherries it broke apart at the lightest touch of the fork. Steeped in brandy with a lovely citrus kick I thoroughly enjoyed it and that’s saying something from someone who isn’t usually a fan of Christmas pudding. The clotted cream is a lovely alternative to custard or double cream and whilst my Mum had already bought one of these puddings for Christmas day, I’ve demanded she go out and buy clotted cream to go with it. Well if JC isn’t going to be at my house on Christmas day I can at least pretend he is.

Onto the specially selected cheeseboard with a particularly good brie and a fabulously sharp cheddar. To be honest we only managed the tiniest amount as we were stuffed from the three courses we had already eaten. The chutney was the only disappoint of the whole meal for me. I like a chunkier sauce and this was a little on the runny side for my liking.

 

We were bid farewell with a mince pie which I’ve always said, is the best you can buy at the supermarket. Last year they beat Fortnum & Mason’s in a taste test and I can see why. light and buttery crumbly pastry encases a general helping of alcohol spiked dried fruits. Yes I was full by this point but there is always room for a mince pie, right?

As a bit of fun all the diners were then asked to guess how much per head we felt the meal would cost. Granted you won’t have Jean Christophe Novelli cooking for you but I know how much my Mum normally spends for our Christmas lunch and it is a fair amount. This? Including wine the meal would cost £20.35 a head. Now if that isn’t a bargain I don’t know what is.

I also got to meet the main man himself! The perfect end to a perfect night.

Thanks to Aldi for inviting me to their #AldiFestiveFeast. You can apply to attend the next event in your area by visiting Aldi on Twitter and telling them why you deserve a place. I dined as a guest of Aldi and was not asked to pay for my food or drink.