The approach to St Patrick's Day marks that time of year again when we release our annual Murphia List - Hot Dinners' celebration of the Irish who work in London's hospitality industry. We always love to throw a bit of a party for its launch so this year we brought together the folks on the list, and a few of our foodie friends, for a party at The Bloomsbury Hotel.
To celebrate the ninth year of the Murphia List we took over the hotel's jaw-dropping George V hall for our best party yet. Headline sponsors Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, are all about celebrating great Irish food, so they supplied some amazing grass-fed Irish beef sirloin for the occasion. We also persuaded our good friends at Clonakilty to share some of their wonderful black pudding with us too. A roving oyster shucker from Rocks oysters did the rounds, serving up oysters sourced from around the Irish and British coasts.
Thanks to to the hotel who brought out some superb canapes of Pressed pork belly with Clonakilty black pudding and toasted crostini topped with Irish grass-fed beef tartare, capers and chives.
No party would be complete without some great drinks and we had plenty for everyone. There was a tasting bar from Waterford Whisky, and a martini bar from Boatyard Gin. The Bloomsbury Hotel has just launched a brand new cocktail menu - The Great Irish Tour - celebrating the poetry and spirits of Ireland. From there, guests were served 14 Tribes which takes the city of Galway as its inspiration and the Sheridan - a riff on the classic Irish Coffee. It goes without saying that there were plenty of pints of Guinness sunk too. Wine came courtesy of Irish winemakers Doran Vineyards who served up their 2022 Arya Chenin Blanc and 2019 Honor D Shiraz & Grenache.
It just remained for guests to wander off into the night with their goody bags, stuffed with soda bread from The Bloomsbury, miniatures of Boatyard Gin, bags of Tayto and a bag of Flahavan's oats for breakfast the next day.
More Murphia
More about The Bloomsbury Hotel
Where is it? 16-22 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3NN
Find out more about The Bloomsbury: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @hotelbloomsbury
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