Starters & Appetizers To Kick-Start A Vibrant Party
Every party begins with a high level of excitement, whether it’s a birthday bash or a bachelors party. The party fever takes its toll, griping everyone, the host and the invitees alike.
It is immaterial where the party is hosted, it could be in a meeting room, a terrace, lawn, or within the precincts of the home, a small number of guest or too many, the excitement still reverberates until it’s over and out.
It goes without saying that the nerve center of a party is the bar counter. The bartender becomes the center of focus, mixing and juggling the drinks in the cocktail shaker, and serving them to curious onlookers, waiting their turns to sip that ‘first’ drink of the evening.
As the party begins to kick-off, you can see many guest reaching out to the waiter serving what we call in French the ‘Hors D’oeuvre’, meaning ’small’ items or ‘snacks’ served before dinner. In restaurant terminology, they are called ‘starters’ and ‘appetizers’.
The starters and appetizers are unreservedly the essence of the party, and watching guests reaching out for them, with their cocktail drinks firmly clutched in their palms, you’re reminded of an old idiom ‘drink like fish, and eat like a pig’.
The well-laid out main course is temporarily overlooked, at least until the bar counter is working overtime, and generous quantities of starters keep flowing.
So what are the starters and appetizers that sustain a party, turning it ‘vibrant’.
As party host, a lot many seek the help of an F & B manager, if the party is being hosted in a banquet hall of a star hotel. The fixed menu, generally will have a limited choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters.
If the host is not satisfied with the menu options presented, a A-La-Carte is the other alternative, it’s expensive,but many don’t mind the cost, as long as they are served on-demand, because no host will want the starters to run-out, just when the pulse of the party is ticking hard.
Similarly, if the party is hosted at home or at a venue that does not have in-house catering facilities available, restaurants are the best alternatives.
At Mayflower, we receive a lot many calls from party planners that are in the process of hosting a party for small, mid-sized, and large groups of guests. Their domain of interest is our Pan-Asian and European cuisine, for which we are well-known.
We have a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters, in the vegetarian segment some of the popular ones include, Cajun Paneer Skewers, Crispy Corn, and Chili Basil Vegetables.
In the non-vegetarian segment too, Dim Sums are hot favorites, especially the Prawn Dim Sums, usually the orders are for a mixed fare that include Spicy Chicken and Celery Dim Sum, and Purple Dim Sums
Another hot favorite is the Peri Peri Wings, party guests find this the most compelling to eat, and off course the guest that are conventional fish eaters prefer the Cajul Grilled Fish, this again is our most popular starter, it perfectly blends with cocktails.
The scope of this blog is to know about the best starters to serve in a cocktail party. The Mayflower Coffee & Bakery has an equally distinct menu for the main course serving the most exotic Pan Asian & European fare.
If you are planning to host a party, and find yourself in the crossroads of decision making over the choice of the menu, our restaurant manager can help you choose the best menu for your party.
