The Congress dinner will be held in the Old Courts Dining Hall of Caius College Cambridge, about a 20 minute stroll from the Congress venue. When: 20 July 2017, starting at 7:30PM sharp.
For many this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to partake in formal dining in an Oxbridge College.
Caius College was founded in 1348, and refounded in 1557. The current Hall was built in 1854. A feature of this Hall is the series of stained glass windows featuring outstanding Caians. Many of the College’s 14 Nobel Laureates appear including Crick (of Watson and Crick) and Florey (penicillin). Others, such as Fisher (statistics, genetics, and evolution, including the modern synthesis), Stephen Hawking, Harvey (blood circulation), and Venn (the logician) are also represented. All members of the College resident over the past 150 years have dined regularly in this hall, as did Philip Corbet when a graduate student here. Harold Abrahams (remember Chariots of Fire), Lord Kenneth Clarke, David Frost, and Simon Sebag Montefiore, among many others, also sat at these tables.
The Cambridge Colleges have been governed by their Fellows. The standard of dining is generally commented upon enviously by outsiders. If you are going to do something you may as well do it well, if you are going to have a tradition then better a good one … and this applies to nourishing the Fellows and the students. In 2013 the kitchens and staff of Gonville & Caius were featured in the BBC Celebrity MasterChef series to high acclaim.
Our selected menu for the evening is:
Starter: Cajun style salmon salad with avocado and rocket
Main: Pan fried duck breast with roasted Mediterranean vegetables and basil sauce
served with Caius potatoes, roasted root vegetables and minted petit pois
Sweet: Lemon posset with home-made lemon curd and shortbread
Accompanied by Gonville and Caius house wines: Riddle Creek Reserve Chardonnay and Shiraz.
Coffee and mints
For vegetarians Chef will provide a vegetarian option to compliment our main menu.
Of course there will be
Printed menu cards with the College Crest
Candles, napkins and linen
Waiter service
Late bookings for the dinner must be made before 1 July 2017.