Tally’s hen do was at Kipney Lodge, up in the Glenalmond area of Perthshire — a dozen or so hens, a lodge with a proper long table, and nobody wanting to spend the best night of the weekend waiting for taxis into Perth. So the restaurant came to them.
Canapés first, always
The evening started the way a hen dinner should: canapés with the first glass, while everyone was still getting dressed and the kitchen filled with people wandering in to ask what smells so good. Arancini on slate, and little spoons finished with flower petals — pretty enough for the photos, which at a hen do matters almost as much as the taste.
Whole seabass for the table
For the mains I baked whole seabass with rosemary and lemon, brought to the table on the tray — there is a moment when a whole fish arrives and the table goes quiet, and that is the moment you book a private chef for. Alongside it, grilled fish with herb butter and a salmon starter plated at the table while the group caught up on a year of gossip.
Everything was cooked in the lodge’s own kitchen, from scratch, that evening. No vans, no reheating — just me, my knives and their kitchen.
Why hen parties book a private chef
A dozen women in a lodge in the Perthshire hills have better things to do than argue about restaurant bookings. The bride stays in her dressing gown until eight if she likes, the wine is whatever you brought, the music is yours, and nobody drives anywhere. I cook, serve every course, then clean the kitchen properly and disappear — the party keeps going without me.
What the guests said
The five-star reviews arrived on Google straight after the weekend.
“We had the pleasure of having Giuseppe cook for us at Kipney…”
— Emma, hen party at Kipney Lodge, Google review
Planning a hen do in Perthshire or anywhere in Scotland?
I cook hen party dinners across Perthshire, Fife, Edinburgh, Aviemore, Loch Lomond and the rest of Scotland — see private chef for hen parties in Scotland and private chef in Perthshire. Menus from £75 per person, VAT and travel included. Call 07414 235 378 or email [email protected] with your date, numbers and lodge, and I’ll send a menu and a firm price — no obligation.