Claude Bosi looks forward to hosting Hospitality Action event

Claude Bosi, chef patron of two-michelin starred restaurant Hibiscus in Mayfair, is looking forward to hosting the Hospitality Action fundraising dinner this Sunday, March 15. 

The event will help to raise £10,000 for Nottingham chef Sat Bains’ Everest adventure next month in aid of Hospitality Action. The charity, which started in 1837, is a lifeline to those who are working or have worked in the hospitality industry and find themselves in crisis.

The event, which has sold out at £250 a ticket, will see a six course tasting menu cooked by some of the UK’s best chefs. Claude wanted to host the event to support his friend’s upcoming challenge. He said: “Sat is one of my best friends and I think what he’s doing is amazing. To try to climb Everest and try to cook a dinner there I think you need a lot of courage.”

Claude has also invited Tom Kerridge from the Hand and Flowers, Paul Cunningham from Henne Kirkby Kro, Andrew Fairlie from Gleneagles, Daniel Clifford from Midsummer House and of course, Sat Bains from Restaurant Sat Bains, to join him in cooking for the night. He said: “We’re a good bunch of friends. We all like a good cause and we want to support Sat as far as we can do. We won’t carrying his bag to the top of the mountain so the best thing we can do is cook his dinner. It should be a good night!”

The French chef has a fair idea of what will be on the menu. He said: “I think Andrew is doing one of his classics, a smoked lobster, Daniel is doing a baked beetroot dish, Sat’s doing his foie gras muesli, Tom’s doing a beef dish I think, cured in black treacle and Paul Cunningham’s doing Chervil with caviar and something else.”

Claude will be in charge of the pudding, serving a coffee and black treacle mousse with avocado and pistachio ice cream.

From starting his career at an early age, Claude understands full-well how hard it can be. Stressing the importance of supporting the Hospitality Action charity, he said: “It’s so easy in our job to be good one day and then find yourself on the streets.You don’t have a lot of money, you work hard, you play hard as well and you find yourself at the end of the month not being able to pay rent.”

The Hospitality Action charity works to help those in the industry struggling with poverty, suffering from a life altering illness, bereavement or domestic abuse and many other issues. Claude said: “I think with this formation you know you can rely on it when you are in trouble. I think it’s just fantastic.”

As Sat prepares for his charity feast at the North Col of Mount Everest, Claude is left with no desire to join him 23,000ft above sea-level. He said: “No way. I will cook his dinner and if I have to do another one next month then I will do it, but that’s as far as I go.”

by Ashley Chalmers