In 2016 The Battle of Eden was on it’s 6th year, and on the 8th of October, 8 chefs from the 8 hotels in the Eden Hotel Collection battled through 8 courses of culinary thrills. They battled to please the 150 diners on the night, obviously, but most of all, they battled to win the coveted trophy as, with it, comes bragging rights within the group for the whole year.

The Battle of Eden is the friendliest of competitions, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t very, very serious… because what emerges from the competition is a very serious 8-course menu with just the right wine-and champagne accompaniments. Seriously delicious. Seriously mouthwatering. Seriously A-MA-ZING!

Best of British

This year’s theme was ‘Best of British’. The creations from the 8 superstar chefs were classics from this country and all created to hero the very best of British produce.

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The Menu

Loch Duart Salmon, Cucumber & Beetroot (Ian Percival, The King’s)

Coronation Chicken (Mark Potts, Mount Somerset)

Fish & Chips (Mark Budd Bovey Castle)

Scampi, Peas & Ketchup (Marcus McGuinness, The Greenway)

English Roast Duck with Spices (Ted Ruewell, Buckland Tout-Saints)

Beef & Oxtail (Abhijeet Dasalkar, The Arden)

Honey Loaf with English Goat’s Cheese (Tim Jenkins, The Brockencote)

English Garden Trifle (Adam Brown, Mallory Court)

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Fish & Chips.

Coronation Chicken.

Beef & Oxtail.

Scampi, Peas & Ketchup.

Fish & Chips.

English Garden Trifle.

Fish & Chips.

English Roast Duck with Spices.

Loch Duart Salmon, Cucumber & Beetroot.

Honey Loaf with English Goat’s Cheese.

Coronation Chicken.

The Battle Winners

Each course brought something special to this evening where British produce was the hero. My favourite was also the evening’s overall winner, the wonderful Beef & Oxtail created by The Arden‘s Abhijeet Dasalkar.

Runner-up was, without doubt, the best Coronation Chicken I have ever had, the incredibly delicious starter by Mount Somerset‘s Mark Potts.

And second runner-up was Bovey Castle‘s Mark Budd and his take on Fish & Chips, this was also the evening’s clear winner had there been a prize for presentation.

Fish & Chips by Mark Budd Bovey Castle.

Beef & Oxtail by Abhijeet Dasalkar, The Arden.

Winner Abhijeet Dasalkar with team and, from left, Eden MD Mark Chambers, Owner Sir Peter Rigby and GM at The Arden, Josefine Blomqvist.

Coronation Chicken by Mark Potts, Mount Somerset.

Super Star Staff

The battleground for the evening was Eden Hotel Collection’s Mallory Court Hotel in Leamington Spa. As with all the Eden hotels, service was top class, and the staff at Mallory Court all did the very best job at making everything run smoothly and keep guests and diners happy throughout the evening.

Roll on Battle of Eden 2017

We had the most wonderful time at this year’s Battle of Eden, the food, the company, the service, the feel and the atmosphere was ‘out-of-this-World’ fantastic and I, for one, can’t wait for next year’s battle which, I’m sure, will be as amazing this year’s.

Thank You Eden Hotel Collection for a wonderful evening in the name of good food and good times.