Now I’ve seen it all…
Last night my friend Brian kindly took me out for dinner at St Catherine’s SCR (Senior Common Room). This event incorporated the pomp and ceremony expected of Oxford. The food was amazing, each of the four courses matched with wine, and the service incredible.
The Menu:
- Smoked eel mousse with beetroot
- Beef fillet with haggis
- Cheese
- Cranachan with raspberries
Because we were sitting at high table (one table at one end of the room raised above all of the tables that the students sit at) when we entered in a formal procession (in gowns of course) the students had to be quiet and stand. The master of ceremonies then hits a peice of wood with his gavel, says something in Latin, then sits down. Following this, everyone sits down. There were about 20 of us at high table. We were served by about 8 waiters. There were about 300 student, they only had about 15 waiters!
St Catz is very modern, being one of the newer colleges here. Everything appears to be “designed”. In fact, I was told that even the cutlery that is used was designed for the college…
Brian had also booked us in for “second desert”. This involved retiring to a room with other high table members and sitting around eating after dinner treats like fruit (fresh and dried), nuts, some sweets and the like. He had warned me and I did get to see fruit eaten with a knife and fork. One lady dissected a banana with amazing skill – I’m guessing she’d done it before! Following second desert, we retired to the SCR lounge for tea, coffee and chocolates. 3 hours and 10 minutes later, dinner was over… Now I think I’ve seen it all… (or have I?)